End of Summer Screenplay
by Saddletank
Summary: One Year on from the end of Whisper of the Heart. A Sequel. This is the version in a [Screenplay or Script] style. The alternative is the [Novel]. BTW, the [Novel] is much better and has more content so read that!
1. Introduction

**The End of Summer**

**IMPORTANT UPDATE 5th DECEMBER**

Following some feedback I have decided to keep the Screenplay/Script version of End of Summer up. I will upload the Novel version starting asap and uploading probably a chapter a day. If fanfiction dot net decide they don't like the same story up here twice in two different styles then the Screenplay/Script version will be the one to go.

**Introduction**

_The End of Summer_ is the story of Shizuku Tsukishima and Seiji Amasawa (two fifteen year olds attending their first year of high school), in the city of Cremona, Italy during several weeks in July, August and September 1995. The story is set in the year following the end of _Whisper of the Heart_, a beautiful and enchanting anime directed by Yoshifumi Kondo and produced in 1995 by the Japanese anime company Studio Ghibli. Note that _Whisper of the Heart _seems to end on November 11th 1994. By the time this story begins the teenagers' relationship has matured over the intervening eight months.

Note that this story is written in the style of a screenplay/script for an anime movie.

Music. I perceive the soundtrack to the film being mostly reflective mood pieces and swelling heart-warming pieces for strings. It goes without saying that Joe Hisaishi is the composer. Interspersed with the main theme and mood pieces is some retro-techno that Seiji listens to on his headphones. These play during some flight sequences. There are a couple of western folk tunes too which come from car radios. Some music played during the Earth Shop scenes towards the end of the story is lifted direct from _Whisper of the Heart_, and is intended to take us back to specific scenes in that film. The music played on the descent to Milan is trash80 "pain fade down" and the music for the landing sequence is dma-sc "visitors from dreams". The piano solo played on the return flight is trash80 "faces of a fashion". Dma-sc's website is http://dma-sc(dot)atari(dot)org. (follow the link marked "PC"). Trash80's website is http://www(dot)trash80(dot)net While Seiji is a budding artisan working with his hands in a traditional manner I see him as a bit of a rebel as well, his love of retro-techno is another mark of rebellion. Hey, he's just an ordinary kid.

Oh, and one last thing before I go. I have set up a forum. You can discuss _The End of Summer, The Attic Room _and_ The Other Side of the World_ if you wish. If you feel a burning need to tell me my work is complete pants then please do it there. I'd like to use the forum for C&C, feedback etc so that any discussion is public rather than in the form of replies to reviews which I hate because I lose them. I'll probably use the forum as a species of blog where I'll discuss what is happening / may happen in _The Other Side of the World_; thouights about stuff I plan to write; why I wrote things the way I did; and the price of fish. In case you are having trouble finding it, it's in the Anime/Whisper section.

Now the boring but important bits:

What follows is a work of fiction, it has no connection whatever with Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaka, Yoshifumi Kondo or any films or other works produced by that company or those persons. It is purely fan fiction. However I have borrowed very heavily from the film _Whisper of the Heart_ many locations, characters and concepts. I have read both of the manga by Aoi Hiiragi that have the Seiji and Shizuku characters in but apart from one character and a couple of incidental snippets lifted from the manga, this fiction borrows only from the anime. It probably contradicts the sequel manga directly in that it's taking place at about the same time. Feel free to download this story (if you really think it's worth it) and you may upload it elsewhere but if you do it MUST NOT BE ALTERED IN ANY WAY. You must include this introduction and notice with the story and the end notes and please don't claim it's your work. If you upload it elsewhere please provide me a link to its location. And you MAY NOT charge a payment for the files (as if anyone would actually _pay_ to read this… agh…). If anyone reading this wants to comment in any way, positive or negative then feel free to do so, I'm online at the Ghibli Tavern and Wingsee forums as user Saddletank and my e-mail is saddletank(at)dsl(dot)pipex(dot)com so now you have no excuse not to have a go at me.

That's quite enough of that stuff. Now, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin…


	2. Chapter One: Two Lovers

**The End of Summer**

**for Megan – who is also growing up**

**Chapter One – Two Lovers **

Opening theme music. Gentle and melancholic violins accompany an airborne view of a modern Japanese city which gradually travels out to some affluent suburbs set on a leafy hillside. The camera slowly zooms in on one particular building, a russet-brown painted wooden home in the Dutch barn style. Perched on the edge of the hill the side facing away from the street is of three stories, the lower two each having a balustraded balcony that commands stunning views towards the city. It is high summer, mid-July, the city dozes in the heat of a late afternoon, about 4:00pm. On the lower balcony of the house as we zoom in to the windows, a large and rather fat brownish-grey cat can be glimpsed dozing in a shady corner. The view zooms right in to…

The downstairs workshop of the house:

Mr. Nishi, the owner, a frail old gentleman with white hair and a bushy white moustache is teaching a violin making class of young people. Even in summer Mr. Nishi wears an old knitted woollen cap for warmth. Four or five students are present around a large table each with parts of a violin before them. Various reference books are scattered about. Most are boys but one girl is present.

Mr. Nishi: "It's important that the stringing is tensioned gradually. You cannot apply full tension to one string at first as that can apply stresses at one side of the bridge and damage the instrument. You must attach all strings loosely at first and then tension them to full taughtness initially over a period of several hours… " (his voice drones on).

Cut to:

A close up of one of the students, a good looking lean young man with a shock of unruly black hair and perceptive eyes. This is Seiji Amasawa. Mr. Nishi is his grandfather on his mothers side and this workshop is his second home, he seems to spend more time here than in his parents house.

Seiji seems to be concentrating on the lecture but as we see a close up of his face it seems his gaze is somewhat day-dreamy and his eyes are full of lazy pleasure. What or who can he be thinking about?

Cut to:

An exterior view of the library, an ugly 1960s concrete and brick building with steel window frames. Two women with babies in prams stand on the pavement at the foot of the library steps in conversation. We can't catch any words but we hear one of them laugh. It's a cheerful, summery sound. A blue delivery van drives by.

Cut to:

A view looking downward from near the ceiling of the main reading room of the library. Long tables and plastic chairs fill the room, with shelf upon shelf of books around the walls under the windows. There are not many people in the room. A young man has even gone to sleep at one table, his book open and forgotten in front of him. He's probably a high school student who needs to study but stayed up too late last night with his friends. The sunlight filters through high windows, the beams making a striped pattern on the tables and floor. Dust mites drift lazily in the sun beams. All is still and quiet. We see a thin scholarly looking man with glasses and a shiny bald head sitting at one of the tables. He is reading the paper but keeps looking over the top of it irritably because a scratching sound is disturbing him. Our view pans around to the source of his irritation. A girl is sat opposite him. She is about 15, slender and has brown hair cut quite short. Her dark eyes and pretty face are fixed in concentration and her pencil moves rapidly across the page, a steady flow of thoughts being transferred from her bright young mind onto the paper in a relentless but obviously pleasing rush. Around her are several books and various pieces of paper all filled with her neat writing. Her pencil scratches away and even the slight cough of irritated bald man trying to get her attention has no effect. In disgust bald man gets up, folds the paper under his arm and leaves. The girl is Shizuku Tsukishima, she's both passionately in love with her writing and with the boy in the workshop who is thinking about her at exactly this moment.

Something disturbs her and Shizuku looks up. Seiji is sat opposite her, not facing her but sat sideways in his chair, legs crossed, relaxed with a book in his hands. He often sits this way in a laid back manner. He is slightly transparent, not there, a dream. He looks up from his book at Shizuku and smiles. Shizuku smiles at the apparition which slowly fades… she returns to her writing, the slight smile still on her lips.

Cut to:

The outside of the library, a little later. Shizuku is sat to one side, half way up the steps, several books and a bundle of papers clasped on her knees. Seiji appears on his bicycle, and dismounts at the bottom of the steps.

Seiji: "Yo! And if it isn't Shizuku Tsukishima!"  
Shizuku: "Hi, Seiji." (Shizuku gets up and comes down the steps, Seiji watches her, grinning.)  
Seiji: "How was your day? D'ya get much done?"  
Shizuku (enthusiastically): "Tons. It's going really well. I have to get a proper story plan in place though, it's just going off in all sorts of mad directions. It's got a life of its own. I think if I could put reins on all this there's enough here for about three books!" (she pats a part finished manuscript).

Shizuku reaches Seiji and they hug briefly.

Shizuku: "Mmm…. Missed you."  
Seiji: "So, can I read it yet?"  
Shizuku (affecting annoyance): "No way! You can't disturb a true artist part way through her work, this is serious stuff!" (Seiji sticks his tongue out at her and Shizuku makes a rude noise in return).  
Shizuku: "And you? How did class go?"  
Seiji (disenchanted): "Ah, you know, same old stuff. Sometimes all this theory work gets pretty dull."

They begin walking side by side down the hill, Seiji wheeling his bike beside him. Sunlight dapples through the trees making bright spots on their clothes. Ahead of them, down the hill between trees on one side and houses on the other, we see a small slice of cityscape. A train passes across this vista, made tiny by the distance.

Shizuku (supportive): "But you need to keep up with it, you need to know all the history and background as well as having a craftsman's skills….." (her voice fades).

The camera pans up through the trees to a summer sky almost painfully blue and apart from some haze on the horizon, totally cloudless. We can hear the low sonorous noise a distant city always makes. Two birds fly past low down in the shot and way up in the atmosphere we hear the distant buzz of a jet plane, just a faint hum it is so far up. A white contrail is drawn across the sky behind it.


	3. Chapter Two: Seiji Comes to Dinner

**Chapter Two – Seiji Comes to Dinner **

Outside shot of the Tsukishima family apartment. It's evening but still light. However the sky and the concrete of the apartment block are tinted by the first warm hints of sunset.

Shizuku (off camera, faint): "Hi mom, I'm home!" (we hear the click of a door closing).

Cut to:

The kitchen. As usual the place is piled up with books, computer disks and general academic junk. The place looks worse than some teenager's bedrooms. Asako, Shizuku's mother, is cooking dinner. Shizuku comes in followed by Seiji.

Mrs. Tsukishima: "Hi dear, have a good day? Oh, hi Seiji."  
Shizuku: "Hi mom." (Shizuku goes straight to the fridge) "I'm parched!"  
Seiji: "Hello Mrs. Tsukishima."  
Mrs. T (a little tired): "No sign of your father yet. He must be still at the library, you didn't see him on the way out did you?"  
Shizuku (muffled, head in the fridge): "No mom, I saw him at lunchtime though – he said he'd probably be late, their bar-coding software is playing up again."  
Mrs. T (annoyed): "Oh, and I went and broke the bank by buying some pork for dinner. Well, your father will just have to eat when he gets in – that is if you leave him any." (Shizuku shuts the fridge door, she cracks open a can of soft drink).  
Shizuku: "Mom, can Seiji stay to dinner?"  
Mrs. T: "Shizuku! It's very rude of you to help yourself like that and not offer your guest any!"  
Shizuku: "Hmm? Oh, here, want some?" (she offers Seiji her can).  
Seiji: "Um, no thanks, I'm fine." (like many young men who have not been to their girlfriends' house many times, Seiji is ill at ease on Mrs. Tsukishima's territory. He's trying to feign a relaxed pose with his hands in his pockets but his tension is visible).  
Mrs. T: "Yes, Seiji can stay, just you two make sure you leave something for your father to eat later." (the Tsukishima family is not financially well off and while Mrs. T is always the perfect hostess she feels that the good quality food she has bought was for the family to eat together in private).

Cut to:

Shizuku's bedroom, the usual scholastic teenager clutter; books abound in heaps everywhere. Shizuku and Seiji are sitting on the bed. Seiji is relaxed and lounges back against the wall, his long legs folded loosely Japanese style, while Shizuku is perched on the edge, a book in her hands.

Shizuku: "Listen to this it's really neat: '…In Woking junction, until a late hour, trains were stopping and going on, others were shunting on the sidings, passengers were alighting and waiting, and everything was proceeding in the most ordinary way. A boy from the town … was selling papers with the afternoon's news. The ringing impact of trucks, the sharp whistle of the engines from the junction, mingled with their shouts of "Men from Mars!" Excited men came into the station about nine o'clock with incredible tidings, and caused no more disturbance than drunkards might have done. …' Isn't that lovely, such wonderful use of language you can almost feel you are there…"  
Seiji: "Who's that by?"  
Shizuku: "An English guy called H G Wells. He was amazing. He lived over a hundred years ago but he wrote the most amazing stories, fantasies and such. There was him and this French man living at the same time. Jules Verne. Between them they pretty much invented science fiction."  
Seiji: "Shizuku – you are still studying for school aren't you? You know the next couple of years for us are going to be tough. The exams are no push-over and you need good grades."  
Shizuku: "Oh, Seiji, we've been over this time and time again. Of course I'm serious about my studies, you know that."  
Seiji: "But every day you're writing or doing research for some story, I never see you with your nose in a school book."  
Shizuku: "You're beginning to sound like my sister."  
Seiji: "Well maybe that's because we both care about you." (Shizuku looks up from her book. Seiji is staring at her intently, his eyes hard) "I know you say you're studying, but I never see the evidence. High school isn't a game, you won't be able to goof off to tests like you did last year in junior high."  
Shizuku (annoyed): "Oh, hello? Did my sister move back in or something? Seiji, I appreciate the lecture but I know what I'm doing. Developing my writing skills is the best thing I can do."  
Seiji (annoyed in turn now): "No, studying for exams is the best thing you can do. If you flunk out it will be all the more difficult to get grants for your writing work."  
Shizuku (her face now softer and downcast): "Seiji I love you but sometimes I hate you too. You're always so… _right_ (she makes a _grrrrr_ noise of frustration). Why can't you let _me_ be right once in a while?"  
Seiji: "Get good grades at high school and I'll let you be as right as you like after that."  
(his stern look breaks into a grin. In amused frustration Shizuku pokes a finger in his side, making him laugh).  
Shizuku (laughing): "You're impossible!"

Mrs. T (off camera): "Dinner you two!"


	4. Chapter Three: Bad News and Good

**Chapter Three – Bad News and Good **

Evening shot of trees and a hillside. The sky is darkening and the first stars are out. Over the city in the distance the indigo of the night sky is polluted by the light made by men. A train passes in the distance. The view changes to a lane with trees either side, large well-kept suburban houses line the road. As the view moves again we see a line of power pylons and then we see two figures sat on the grass looking at the view. It is Seiji and Shizuku's special place. Seiji is sat upright, leaning back against a concrete berm. His legs are apart and Shizuku, her back to him, is between them leaning back in his lap. The boy's arms are held gently round her tummy and she rests her hands on his.

Cut to:

A close up of Shizuku in profile. She is dozing, eyes half closed, her thoughts far away. She's humming snippets of a tune quietly to herself. It's _Country Road_.

Cut to:

A close up of Seiji. His face is serious and he seems to be thinking hard, he looks troubled. A waft of breeze ruffles his hair.

Seiji: "Shizuku?"  
Shizuku: "…Mmm?"  
Seiji: "Was it hard for you when I was in Italy for two months?"  
Shizuku: "Yes, I missed you a lot. But in a way it helped me too because I got so much done. I really found out a lot about myself, what I could do, what I still need to do to be better."  
Seiji: "Well… Um... I have some bad news. And some good…"  
(Shizuku sits up and turns to look at him)  
Shizuku: "What?"  
Seiji: "The bad news is I'm going away for a few weeks in August, uh… about three weeks. The same violin maker I went to before is holding a special summer course."  
Shizuku (unhappy): "Oh, Seiji, that's great – will you get special tuition?"  
Seiji: "That's right. This master only offers places to the most promising students he has seen over the last year. It's a great honour that he contacted grandpa and mentioned my name specifically. That means he thinks I show potential. It's going to really help me."  
Shizuku: "This is hard. I was looking forward to being with you all summer."  
Seiji: "Well, that was the bad news. There is good news too…" (he has a glint in his eye)  
Shizuku: "Tell me!"  
Seiji: "I knew you'd be unhappy about this. So I contacted the place in Cremona and asked a few questions about the residential arrangements…"  
Shizuku: "And…?"  
Seiji: "Well… how would you like to come too?"  
Shizuku (pleased and amazed): "What? Go with you? Oh, Seiji, that would be amazing!"  
Seiji: "Whoa – wait, wait." (he lifts a hand toward her, palm outwards in a defensive gesture) "You need to discuss this with your parents. Grandpa and my mom and dad have agreed to cover my costs but you… well, you know… (he shrugs) the flight won't be cheap…"  
Shizuku (jumping up): "I'll talk to them right away!"  
Seiji: "Please don't get your hopes up too high. Look, I've committed myself to going, it's a big break for me. But I know you'll be upset if you can't go, so please, you need to be realistic about this, the world can't revolve round you all the time."

Cut to:

An outside view of the Tsukishima apartment block. It's dark. Lights are on in some windows. We faintly hear a TV.

Cut to:

The kitchen. The table has the usual family clutter on it. Shizuku sits at one side of the table, her mother and father, Yasuya, at the other side. We've seen this kind of scene before.

Mr. T: "I realise how important this is for you Shizuku, but it is very expensive. And the issue is its three weeks away from your study time. You can't afford to take a holiday like this when it's important that you prepare for school in September."  
Mrs. T: "And we worry about you. You will be on the other side of the world, all alone…"  
Shizuku: "Mom, I won't be alone. I will be near the teacher that Seiji is with, I'm sure he will keep an eye on me, please don't worry on that account."  
Mrs. T: "Of course we worry, you've never been so far away from home before."  
Shizuku: "Dad, I can take my school work with me. I'll have lots of time for that when Seiji is in his classes. And it will be such an opportunity. I'll try learning another language and – and… there is so much great stuff in Italy – history and art and everything, it will be the experience of a lifetime! Think how much it will help me when school opens again in September!"  
Mr. T: "What, lying by a pool sunning yourself for three weeks?"  
Shizuku: "Dad! It won't be like that. I promise I'll study whenever I can."  
Mrs. T: "You said that last year, and look what happened then, you got this writing project started and your grades went down so steeply. We were worried. How can we trust you?"  
Shizuku: "Mom. You can. I'm older now. I promise."  
Mr. T: "Well, as long as you promise not to waste the time…."  
Shizuku: "You mean I can go? Yaaaaaay!" (she leaps up).  
Mrs. T: "We still have to consider the cost Shizuku, this is going to take a huge chunk out of the money we have saved up."  
(too late, Shizuku runs round the table and hugs her mom)  
Shizuku: "Mom, dad, you're so cool. I love you!"


	5. Chapter Four: Father and Daughter

**Chapter Four – Father and Daughter**

Two weeks later. Shizuku's bedroom. Next to her desk on the wall her calendar shows the month of August. The 1st is ringed in red pen, as is the 23rd. A huge bag, a large soft military style hold-all with canvas handles, is in the middle of the floor. Clothes, books, shoes and other packing is scattered about. Shizuku goes to various drawers in her cupboard and pulls out more things, she seems to be packing enough for a year away. Our viewpoint is from the window behind her desk. There are lots of books on the desk and bottles too: shampoo, moisturizer, sun protection, other toiletries. Shizuku now kneels with her back to us and bends over the bag stuffing things in. Her father comes in with a neatly folded pile of clothes in his arms.

Mr. T: "Here, your mother just finished the last few things."  
Mr. T: "Shizuku?"  
Shizuku (looking up): "Um… thanks… just there is fine." (she points to the bed and her father lays the laundry down).  
Mr. T: "Is that everything now?"  
Shizuku: "…think so." (glances at watch) "Aah! Half an hour! Mr. Nishi is coming in half an hour!" (frantic activity).

Mr. Tsukishima gazes around the room, he looks at the empty upper bunk bed where his eldest daughter slept until last year. His face is sad.

Mr. T: "It's going to be so quiet round here."

Shizuku continues packing.

Mr. T: "First Shiho moves out and now you're going too. The chicks are leaving the nest."

Still looking down, Shizuku pauses in her packing, a pair of sandals in her hand halt in mid air. Poised while she considers her fathers words. She looks up.

Shizuku: "Dad, it's only three weeks."  
Mr. T: "But it's the beginning of something isn't it. This is change. There will be other trips away, time's moving on. You're growing up."

Shizuku finally gets it and tunes into her fathers mood. Or at least she thinks she does.

Shizuku: "Dad, don't worry about me. I'll be fine and home again in no time. I'll write as often as I can."

Cut to:

A view from over Mr. Tsukishima's shoulder. He looks down at his daughter. We see her round face looking up.

Mr. T (sighing): "It seems like only yesterday when you were just a tiny baby, sleeping in a cot in our room. How time flies. (he shakes his head gently) I can't believe you'll be 16 soon. Stand up child."

Shizuku lays the sandals down and slowly stands up.

Cut to:

A side view from the bed, we see Mr. Tsukishima and his daughter in profile, facing each other with the bag between them. We notice for the first time that Shizuku really has grown in the eight months since we last saw her, she is taller, her hair cut in a more grown up way and by her profile we can see she is no longer a child.

Mr. T: "Look at you. You're a woman now. Please be careful. You know what I'm talking about don't you?"

Like many fathers and daughters, sex is a difficult subject.

Shizuku: "Daaaa-d! Of course I'll be careful."  
Mr. T: "Time passes faster as you get older. Every day, every hour becomes more precious, you don't notice the wasted days until they're gone, and lost forever."  
Shizuku: "Dad…?"  
Mr. T: "Shizuku please understand this. What you are doing now is a great opportunity, a great privilege, so please use your time wisely. Make every day and hour count. Don't fritter your time away."

Shizuku looks down. She can't make eye contact with her father when he's in such an odd mood.

Mr. T: "Consider each moment and use it. You never know what each minute brings, each one, trivial in itself may be the turning point, the source of great things, great changes."  
Shizuku: "Dad, are you OK…?"  
Mr. T: "I love you. Please be careful."  
Shizuku: "Dad… if I don't get packed _right now_…"

In a rather clumsy movement, Mr. Tsukishima moves forward and reaches out for his daughter. An instinctive reaction to the gesture brings Shizuku forward too and they hold each other, in an awkward uncomfortable way, the bag between them prevents close contact, they hug only at the shoulders. Mr. Tsukishima seems unhappy with physical affection and he breaks away quickly.

Mr. T: "I'll just check we have the flight tickets ready."

He turns and leaves the room. Shizuku realises too late that she's misunderstood a special moment that cost her father a great deal of effort.

Shizuku (speaking quietly to the empty room): "Dad. I love you too."

Cut to:

The street outside the Tsukishima family apartment block. Mr. Nishi's little grey van is at the roadside. A high hedge borders the apartment grounds with a signboard against it. He and Seiji stand beside it. Seiji checks his watch. Mr. and Mrs. Tsukishima and Shizuku come down the steps from the apartment. Shizuku struggles with her monstrous bag. She also has a pink shoulder bag. Seiji comes forward.

Seiji: "Let me."  
Shizuku: "No, I'm fine."  
Seiji: "At least let me help."

Shizuku puts the bag down and she and Seiji take a handle each. They stagger to the rear of the van with it.

Seiji: "Wow, did you pack the whole library?"  
Shizuku (giggling): "No, just non-fiction."

Mr. Nishi walks up to Shizuku's father. He bows and Mr. Tsukishima returns the formal greeting.

Mr. N: "Good morning. I am Seiji's grandfather, Shirou Nishi."  
Mr. T: "Pleased to meet you, I am Yasuya, Shizuku's father. May I introduce my wife Asako."

Asako bows, and Mr. Nishi returns the greeting.

Mr. T: "Shizuku speaks very highly of you, I feel I owe you a debt for having been of such a help to her last year when she was having difficulty with her studies."  
Mr. N: "You would be surprised. Your daughter is a very resourceful young lady. She was a great help to me also. It can get a little lonely up in my shop and I appreciate her effort to come over and provide me with some company."  
Mr. T: "I understand you have been tutoring your grandson to make violins?"  
Mr. N: "Indeed, but he is already exceeding in skill what I am able to teach him," (leaning forward conspiratorially and lowering his voice) "…although he himself will not admit that." (stands upright again) "I am sure he'll get a great deal from the schooling this trip will offer."

There is a slight pause. Another reminder of Shizuku's departure cools Mr. and Mrs. Tsukishima's mood somewhat.

Mr. N: "Seiji and Shizuku have hit it off well together don't you think? They both have a strong artistic talent and they are well matched."  
Mr. T: "Yes. Shizuku talks about him all the time. By the way, your grandson, his father wouldn't be the Dr. Amasawa of Amasawa Electronics would he?"  
Mr. N: "Yes, that's right."  
Seiji: "Please, grandpa, we need to be off."  
Mr. T: "I'm sorry, we must continue another time."  
Shizuku (from the rear seat of the van): "Bye mom, bye Dad!"

Her parents come to the vehicle, reach in and give her a final hug. Seiji gets in the sliding door next to her.

Mr. N: "It was a pleasure to meet you, I look forward to seeing you again."  
Mrs. T: "Thank you. And thank you for taking Shizuku to the airport, we appreciate your kindness."  
Mr. N: "Really, it's my pleasure."  
Seiji (inside the van, a sing-song voice): "We're gonna miss the plaaa-aaane…"  
Mr. T: "Off you go now. Good luck. Safe journey."

Mr. Nishi climbs in and the van's small tinny motor cranks over and fires up with a puff of exhaust. He checks his wing mirror and pulls out into the traffic. The kids wave frantically. Calls of "Byeeee!" "Safe trip!" "I'll wriiiiii-ite soon!" swoop to and fro across the widening gap between those left behind and those leaving them.

Cut to:

Rear view of the van getting smaller until it vanishes over a rise in the road and goes downhill. We see an arm waving frantically from a window until it is lost to sight. Other traffic drones by.

Cut to:

Shizuku's parents stand side by side. Asako still has her hand raised. She stops waving it and lowers it slowly. Yasuya puts an arm around his wife's shoulders.

Mr. T (whispering): "Be safe."

They turn reluctantly and walk arm in arm back up the steps.


	6. Chapter Five: A Great Adventure

**Chapter Five – A Great Adventure**

Airborne view of the city. High altitude. Traffic on the roads – the cars and trucks are tiny. A train passing. It's late morning, the sky is blue, fluffy white cumulus scud by on a gentle breeze. Western folk music is playing, violins, guitar and flute, a cheering upbeat tune.

Cut to:

A lower altitude view of offices and apartments, this is more toward the city centre than the neighbourhood where Shizuku lives. Cars appear larger now and we see Mr. Nishi's grey van stop at a junction, then turn left when the lights go green.

Cut to:

A closer view of the van, we are only a few dozen feet from it, and slightly above, tracking it from the side as it drives along a busy dual carriageway, faster traffic is overtaking Mr. Nishi.

Cut to:

A view from inside the rear of the van looking forwards. We see the top of Shizuku's huge bag in the foreground, then the rear seat backs and the back of Shizuku's and Seiji's heads and finally the back of Mr. Nishi's head in the driving seat. The folk music is louder now. It's a tune playing on the van radio. Seiji's arm is along the back of Shizuku's seat and his fingers tap in time to the tune and we can hear him humming along. Shizuku leans forward a little and looks out the side window next to Mr. Nishi. We briefly see her face in profile as her head turns to look, she is alert, eager and expectant. A great adventure is starting.

Cut to:

A view of what she sees. Shops, pedestrians, traffic, trees, advertisements, the fabric of any modern city slides by.

Cut to:

A view from outside the front of the van looking back at the occupants. Reflections of buildings and trees slide up the windshield as it proceeds through the traffic.

Mr. Nishi: "Alright back there? Plenty of room?"  
Seiji: "Yes, grandpa. I had to kick Shizuku out at the last set of lights though, but me and the Plus Four Bag of Hugeness have enough room now."

Mr. Nishi smiles and chuckles. He checks his rear view mirror, the vans indicator lamp flashes and he changes lanes.

Seiji: "Oi!" (Shizuku has presumably just poked him for his poor humour).

Cut to:

A view of Tokyo Narita airport's main terminal buildings. We see the name in large letters across the frontage. Taxis and cars queue at the passenger drop off lanes. It's very busy. We hear the roar of jet engines and from behind the building we see a jet liner clawing its way up in a steep take off, dark fuel smoke hanging behind it.

Cut to:

A close up side-on view from street level of a parked red hatchback car. The airport building is behind it and people walk past in the background. To the left and right of the car we can just see the ends of the cars it is parked between. People are getting in.

Man (slamming the hatchback closed): "Come on, hurry up, we're late."  
Woman (getting into front seat): "Alright, stop nagging!"  
Child (in back seat): "Mom, I'm thirsty."

The man gets in the driving seat, starts the engine and maneuvers the car out of the parking space. It exits the scene to the right. We briefly see pure gold-dust at passenger drop-off: an empty piece of pavement. A second later Mr. Nishi's grey van rolls slowly into shot from the left. It almost exits the scene to the right but the rear few inches stay in shot, the red brake lamps coming on. The red lights go out and the white reversing lamp comes on and the van backs slowly into the empty space.

Cut to:

A view from outside the front of the van looking back at the occupants. Mr. Nishi has his head turned looking back out his side window as he maneuvers. He switches off the engine.

Mr. Nishi: "That was lucky."

Cut to:

A view of the glass-walled main building from eye level. People can be glimpsed moving inside. We are on the pavement among the crowds. A man in a dark suit runs by. Reflected in the glass walls are cars parked at the pavement. In shot are Seiji and Shizuku with their bags piled up on a baggage trolley. They face Mr. Nishi.

Seiji: "Well, this is it grandpa. Goodbye."  
Shizuku (making a little bow): "Thank you so much for bringing us."  
Mr. Nishi (tilting his head in acknowledgement): "That's no trouble Shizuku. You take good care of Seiji for me now."

The old man smiles kindly but underneath he must be fearful for the young people traveling so far.

Shizuku: "I'll write."  
Mr. Nishi: "Thank you. You just make sure it's not as long as the last thing you wrote me."

Shizuku grins. She turns away and adjusts the bags on the trolley. Seiji steps closer to Mr. Nishi.

Seiji: "Bye, grandpa. Make sure you feed Moon."  
Mr. Nishi (chuckling): "Oh, I will. Now you make sure Shizuku is safe. You've a big responsibility there Seiji, that girl is in your care."  
Seiji: "No problem. I'll watch out."

A family pass between our viewpoint and Seiji and his grandfather. A husband and wife with elder daughter. A couple of paces behind a young boy trails along looking tired.

Mother (calling back over her shoulder): "Come on keep up, it's just a bit further."  
Mr. Nishi: "And study hard. Signore Guarnieri is the best there is. If you follow his teaching you can never go wrong."  
Seiji: "I understand grandpa."  
Mr. Nishi: "Off you go now, safe journey."  
Seiji: "If I can I'll phone you when we get there."  
Mr. Nishi: "Thank you."

Shizuku turns to face the old man and raises her hand in a final parting gesture. He smiles broadly and makes a shoo-ing motion for them to go.

Cut to:

Inside the terminal building. Shizuku and Seiji stand in a queue to check in their bags. The place is bustling with activity. Seiji's hands rest on the baggage trolley. Shizuku slips her right arm inside his left and squeezes, giving him a broad grin and making a scrunched up smiling motion with her whole body.

Shizuku: "This is great. I'm so excited."  
Seiji: "Me too. Wait 'til you see Cremona, you're gonna love it."

Shizuku starts bouncing up and down.

Shizuku: "I can't wait, I can't wait… Ooooh, yeah, we're going to I-ta-lee!"

She sings and does a little boogie in her excitement.

Cut to:

The departure lounge. The big room is filled with rows of plastic seating. In the background more glass walls give a view of the aircraft parking bays. People are sitting about, chatting or flicking through magazines. We see Shizuku and Seiji sitting. Seiji is leaning back his eyes closed, arms behind his head. Shizuku sits up looking about with interest. They have just their hand luggage with them now. A couple of drinks cans and an empty plastic sandwich container are on the floor between them. A thought pops into Shizuku's head.

Shizuku: "Seiji, why didn't your parents bring you to the airport?"  
Seiji: "Mmm?"  
Shizuku: "Why did your grandpa bring you and not them?"  
Seiji (eyes still closed, head back): "Well, me and dad aren't getting on much at the moment. I didn't even ask him."  
Shizuku: "Oh."  
Seiji: "I packed yesterday and grandpa took me to his place. I spent the night there. I just really wanted to be with him, y'know? Among the furniture, the clocks, the violins."  
Shizuku: "Oh. I see."  
Seiji: "No, I don't think you do. Things are not good between me and dad right now. I didn't sleep too well last night. D'ya mind, I'm just dozing here…"  
Shizuku: "Sure."

Shizuku is a little put out by this brush off and turns her head, her eyes downcast. Soon however she looks up and quickly finds something else that grabs her attention.

Cut to:

A view looking vertically downwards into Seiji's face. His hands behind his head, elbows sticking out. Suddenly he opens his eyes and stares up at the camera. He frowns, there is even anger in his eyes.

Announcer: "Japan Airlines flight JL417 for Milan Linate. Please proceed to boarding at gate sixteen."

Seiji's frown fades. He uncoils his long thin arms and sits up. He looks at his watch.

Cut to:

A close up of a digital watch face. It reads 12:22:18, then 12:22:19.

Seiji: "That's us."


	7. Chapter Six: JL417

**Chapter Six – JL417**

Outside view. Looking forwards from just behind a white and red Japan Airlines Boeing 747 which is parked on the hard standing at the departure gates. The departure building in the background. A mobile umbilical type boarding bridge on wheels is connected just behind the left side of the flight deck, its grey concertina walls are thrown into sharp relief by lines of shadow and light from the mid-day sun. This shot is drawn with a telephoto lens effect so the aircrafts body appears foreshortened. On the concrete below a tractor rumbles away with a string of empty wire baggage cages on wheels. The driver appears tiny and we get a strong impression of the vast size of the plane, it's like an apartment block with wings.

Cut to:

Close up of the plane's side. A worker in blue overalls and bright yellow plastic safety vest pushes the cargo door closed and there is a loud thunk and click as the heavy pressure clips snap home.

Cut to:

The flight deck. Looking forward from the entryway toward the windshield. The pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer run through their last pre-flight checks, touching switches, examining dials, verbally acknowledging the status of things.

Cut to:

A view just inside the cabin looking out the open door to the boarding bridge. Passengers are coming aboard. A sharp dressed pretty JAL stewardess is welcoming people on and pointing out seat locations.

Cut to:

A view of the main cabin interior. There are three seats, then an aisle, then four seats in the centre, another aisle and finally three more seats. Rows of seats stretch back for what seems like hundreds of feet. The plane is huge. This shot is like a time lapse view. At first the cabin is empty, then a few people fade into position in some seats while others work their way slowly down the aisles looking for their seat numbers. Another fade and now more seats are occupied. Fade again, the cabin is almost full, people are stuffing hand luggage into overhead lockers. Cabin crew fuss about, sorting out confused passengers.

Cut to:

Seiji and Shizuku moving down an aisle. Seiji, leading, stops.

Seiji: "Here."

He reaches up, opens the overhead locker and slings a rucksack in. He drops down into a seat. Shizuku reaches the row and lifts her pink bag up. Its shoulder strap catches on a seat back but she doesn't realize. She tries to push the bag up into the storage bin and can't work out why it won't go. She mumbles in frustration.

Cut to:

A close up of Seiji's face. He looks at Shizuku and because she has raised her arms, her shirt has pulled up and away from the waistband of her skirt. Two inches of smooth honey coloured skin are a foot from Seiji's nose. Being a normal fifteen year old boy he cannot help but stare. He comes quickly to his senses, his face goes pink and he jumps up.

Seiji: "I'll do it."  
Shizuku: "It's caught on something."  
Seiji: "I got it. There. That's it. No, no, to me a bit. There."

The bag slides in. Shizuku lowers her arms and looks at him. His face is still pink.

Shizuku: "You OK?"  
Seiji: "Sure. Warm in here, huh?"  
Shizuku: "No. The air conditioning is on. I'm _freezing_."  
Seiji: "Ah, well. You want the window seat?"  
Shizuku: "Can I? Thanks!"

She slides in and sits, Seiji sits next to her. He grins like an idiot.

Cut to:

A close up of a bright yellow steel tug – a low bodied tractor with large wheels and powerful engine. A man sits in its driving cabin. It's moving slowly across shot from right to left, propelling a long round yellow steel bar with one axle at the far end.

Cut to:

A close up of the 747's nose wheels. They fill the picture. The end of the yellow wheeled bar creeps into view from the right on its two large soft tyres and the coupling at the end engages with a lug on the undercarriage arm between the two nose wheels. A ground crewman comes into shot from the left, drops in a steel pin and makes an OK gesture to an unseen colleague. He steps back. The shot zooms out and we see that while the driver of the tug is small compared to its large squat body, the tug itself is dwarfed by the massive bulk of the 747 above it.

Groundcrewman: "Clear to go!" He makes a rotating, 'wind her up' gesture with his forearm.

Cut to:

The side of the planes fuselage. The umbilical boarding bridge withdraws and the stewardess can be seen closing and locking the cabin door.

Cut to:

The nose wheels with the tugs arm attached. Slowly the wheels turn. A motor roars and the tug propels the 747 backwards out onto the taxiway.

Cut to:

The cabin. Shizuku and Seiji close up. Shizuku looks out the oval window.

Shizuku: "Ooo, we're moving."  
Seiji (excited too): "Oh, yeah, here we go."

Cut to:

Outside. Another telephoto shot looking at the nose of the 747 from a distance. It moves slowly back. We can just see the flight crew in the cockpit, they appear the size of ants. The rear of the tug comes into view and halts. The big plane makes a gentle rocking as it stops. A ground crewman runs forward, frees the locking pin on the tug's towing bar and steps well back. With a cloud of diesel fumes the tug backs away and heads off at speed in reverse out of shot to the left.

Cut to:

The flight deck. The crew ready themselves for instructions from the tower. All air traffic control communications are conducted, by international agreement, in English.

Voice: "Narita tower to JL417."  
Pilot: "This is JL417, go ahead Narita."  
Voice: "JL417 you are clear to taxi to the south end of runway 34 left."  
Pilot: "Clear to taxi to south end 34 left. Thank you, tower."  
Voice: "JL417, hold on the taxiway at the end of 34 left, we have some Lufthansa traffic ahead of you."  
Pilot: "Roger that tower, Lufthansa traffic in front of us."

Cut to:

A high altitude aerial view looking down onto the plane on the taxiway. It begins to roll and we can see another jet ahead of it also rolling down the taxiway and yet a third behind. There's a wide concrete apron to the left, the departure buildings to the right.

Cut to:

A view from near ground level looking at the end of the runway. There is grass to either side with some low signboards with random numerals on them indicating location and directional information to plane crews. In the background is an earth berm topped with a wire security fence. There is a treeline beyond the fence and beyond that the roofs of city buildings. Above the city the sky is summer blue and the white clouds beckon. Into shot from the right comes the white and red 747, first just its nose, then the cockpit, then the wings with the four large engines slung beneath. The nose wheel turns and the big plane swings heavily but smoothly around through ninety degrees until it faces us down the runway. It comes to a stop. The red JAL logo shows prominently on its tail fin.

Cut to:

Shizuku and Seiji.

Seiji: "Any minute now…"

Cut to:

The flight deck.

Voice: "Narita tower to JL417. You are cleared for take off."  
Pilot: "JL417 to Narita. Thank you."

The pilot turns to his co-pilot who nods. The pilot places his right hand, palm open and forwards, on the four big throttle levers. The co-pilot places his open left hand over the pilot's right.

Pilot: "Let's go."

Both men push their hands forward.

Cut to:

Runway view. A low roar quickly climbs in volume. The big plane squats down momentarily pushing against the force of the wheel brakes. These are then released and the 747 starts to move.

Cut to:

Shizuku and Seiji. Shizuku looks to her right out the window. This shot has some rocking motion introduced to it to indicate the plane is moving. Even inside the pressurized cabin the engine roar is noticeable.

Shizuku: "Oh, my…"

Cut to:

A close up of Seiji's hand on his seat armrest. It's limp, relaxed. Shizuku's hand comes down on top of it, gripping tightly. Seiji turns his hand over palm upwards and Shizuku holds on tight to him, their fingers interlacing.

Shizuku: "Oh… my…oh – wow!"

The plane is accelerating hard now, we see both Shizuku's and Seiji's bodies pushed back into their seats by the G-force.

Shizuku: "Oh, this is amazing!"

Cut to:

Runway view. The 747 rolls by, accelerating. The engine roar reaches screaming pitch and the camera pans to follow it past. At the end of the shot we see the nose wheel lift and the body rotate up, sitting like a hungry dog on its hind legs.

Cut to:

A close up of two men's hands pressed against the four throttle levers. The whole shot shakes and rattles, behind the hands we see the cockpit dials, several of the needles are moving round clockwise and the tachometer is showing nearly 200 knots already.

Cut to:

Two hands held hard together. Shizuku's squeezing Seiji's.

Cut to:

Shizuku in profile looking out the window. Her chest is rising and falling rapidly, she's almost hyperventilating with excitement.

Cut to:

A view directly along the runway from behind the plane. The 747 is receding fast. Suddenly like a leaping animal it is airborne, the rear undercarriage breaks free from the concrete and the thrust of its engines and the speed of the airflow over its wing surfaces are finally strong enough to defeat gravity and it begins to fly. The storm of sound is almost unbearable now. At the rear of each engine nacelle there is a dull reddish glow and the engines and wings are distorted by waves of heat haze like a mirage in the desert. A slight cross wind hits the plane and it flies slightly crabwise. The nose tilts up even more and from our foreshortened viewpoint it appears to climb at an impossible angle.

Cut to:

Shizuku and Seiji. Shizuku is laughing with pure joy and excitement. She turns from looking out the window to look at Seiji. Her eyes are shining.

Cut to:

Seiji's face. He looks a bit nonplussed, puzzled at Shizuku's reaction.

Cut to:

View from the end of the runway again. The 747 is small now and climbing smoothly. We see the undercarriage fold up, a trail of aviation fuel smoke hangs in the air behind it. The roar of engines falls off. In the foreground the nose of another jet taxis into shot from the left, the nose wheel turning slowly. This is a red Singapore Airlines aircraft, it begins to swing round to face the runway. The JAL 747 is by now no more than a speck.

Cut to:

Shizuku and Seiji.

Seiji: "Uh… can I have my hand back now?"  
Shizuku (starting with surprise): "Oh. Sorry."

She lets go of him. Seiji lifts his arm and rubs his wrist and palm.

Seiji: "Mmmm, that hurt."  
Shizuku: "I'm sorry, it's just that…. I mean wow, wasn't that exciting? That was like being an astronaut in a rocket!"

She looks again out the window, leaning forward to see down.

Shizuku: "Hey! We're so high already! Look at those tiny cars! Oh, yeah, this is amazing!"

Seiji looks at her still mildly amused and puzzled.

Seiji: "You've not flown before have you?"  
Shizuku: "No. Didn't I tell you?"  
Seiji (smiling): "No you didn't. Heh, that explains a lot."  
Shizuku: "Oh, this is just so cool. Look down there! A toy train!"

Seiji smiles at her, his eyes filled with love. He settles back in his seat, relaxes and enjoys the show of watching Shizuku having the time of her life.


	8. Chapter Seven: Travelling Through Time

**Chapter Seven – Travelling Through Time**

Cloudscapes. A number of different views. Fluffy pretty cumulus clouds. Towering formations. Blue sky.

Cut to:

Looking down from a height onto the tops of the clouds. The cloud cover is partial and between them we can see the ocean. A ship is in view, just a mere dot at the tip of the long white straight brush stroke of its wake.

Cut to:

Looking down from even higher up. The ship is not visible now, only the faintest white line shows its position. The cloud tops seem smooth and creamy from this high up. This is high altitude, 30,000 feet or more.

Cut to:

The same view but this shot is bordered around by the curved sides of a cabin window. We are inside looking out. We can hear a low droning of jet engines.

Cut to:

A close up of Shizuku and Seiji. They are sleeping, cuddled together in their seats. We can see the porthole-like window in the corner of the shot, the blue sky outside a pale cold colour. Towards the top of the view the sky is darker, the deep velvet blue of the upper atmosphere. Shizuku's head rests on Seiji's shoulder; he in turn has laid his head on top of hers. They are under a blanket provided by the airline.

Cut to:

A wider view of the cabin interior. Many passengers are sleeping, some read. A couple of stewardesses move slowly along the aisles checking all is OK.

Cut to:

An outside shot of the 747 cruising effortlessly high above the clouds. There is a slight warmth to the colours in this image indicating later in the day.

Cut to:

The galley. The immaculately dressed Japan Airlines stewardesses talk and clatter about at work. Hot meals are being placed on trolleys and wheeled down the aisles. We glimpse a few rows of passengers at the front of the plane. They are eating and chatting.

Cut to:

Close up of a stewardess taking a used food tray from a passenger.

Stewardess: "Thank you."

Cut to:

Later. Seiji's face, his eyes are closed. We see his head nodding slightly to a musical beat. The camera view zooms slowly out and we see him wearing personal stereo headphones.

Cut to:

Shizuku reading. She has a couple of books on the plastic fold down tray over her lap. She reads something then closes her eyes and quietly mouths a phrase, then checks her book again.

Cut to:

Seiji. He lifts his headphones off and we hear a tinny rendition of a pop song, like fleas playing tiny electric guitars. He turns his head to look at Shizuku.

Seiji: "What are you reading? Not fairy tales?"  
Shizuku (looking up at him): "Well this one," (she holds the book up) "…is an Italian phrase book. I'm teaching myself some Italian. And this one…" (with her other hand she flips the other book over so the spine and front cover is visible, we get a glimpse of a picture of the Coliseum, Rome) "…is a geography book – about European cities, the people, their life, industry. Its research for my stories. I want to write stories that describe places accurately – so when people read them they feel they are really there."  
Seiji: "You're really serious about this aren't you?"  
Shizuku: "Would you make a violin without wanting it to be the best you'd ever made?"  
Seiji: "Hm."  
Shizuku: "This is me, Seiji. It's what I really want to do. I'm like a great big bag of storytelling wrapped up inside a person. Storytelling is the whole of me. It wants to burst out – I can't keep it in."  
Seiji: "But can you make story writing successful?"  
Shizuku: "What? Make money?" (shrugs) "I suppose so but that's not why I do it. I do it because I love it. Why do you make violins?"

Cut to:

Seiji's face. He does not answer that question. There is a hint of worry showing. But there is something else in his eyes as well, a warmth, a look of wonder, a look of awe even.

A stewardess passes along the aisle.

Shizuku: "Excuse me."  
Stewardess: "Yes, miss."  
Shizuku: "What time is it please? I think my watch is wrong."  
Stewardess (checking wristwatch): "It's almost six o'clock, miss. Five to six now."  
Shizuku: "Thanks. Oh, and where are we now – do you know?"  
Stewardess: "Over Crete miss, we should be landing in about 90 minutes."  
Shizuku: "Thank you."  
Shizuku: "That's odd, I'm sure it should be dark by now."  
Seiji: "Time zones."  
Shizuku: "What?"  
Seiji: "Time zones – you know each country is at a different time because it's on a different part of the earth's surface."  
Shizuku (realisation dawns): "Ah! Yes! Time zones. How many have we gone through?"  
Seiji (a bit of mental calculation): "Pffffft… dunno… five or six maybe."  
Shizuku (you can hear the cogwheels turning in her head): "So we took off about one o'clock… my watch says we've been flying over nine hours… it's actually only six now… yes, five time zones…"  
Seiji: "Neat, huh?"  
Shizuku: "Yeah… like time travel."  
Seiji: "Kind of, but not really."  
Shizuku: "But if you went really fast, round and round the world… in a space ship…"  
Seiji: "International Date Line."  
Shizuku: "Ah… right… so only ever 23 hours out?"  
Seiji: "Mmm, something like that."  
Shizuku: "Even so, kind of cool isn't it?"  
Seiji: "It is now. But not after you land. Going west isn't a problem but when we travel east against the sun we lose about eleven hours or something and your body clock will get all messed up. Day should be night and you can't stay awake. It's not nice. When we get to Italy your watch will say only about seven hours have passed but to your body it'll feel like twice that. You'll see."

Shizuku reaches down to her fold out table, picks up a small note book and writes in it with her propelling pencil.

Seiji: "What's that?"  
Shizuku (writing): "Note book."  
Seiji: "Right. For a moment there I thought it was a jellyfish."  
Shizuku (looking round like he's an idiot): "_What?_"  
Seiji (resigned to her ways): "Doesn't matter."  
Shizuku (realisation): "Oh, _this?_"  
Seiji (nods): "Uh-huh."  
Shizuku: "Ideas. Story ideas. If something cool or odd or just interesting happens I scribble it down."  
Seiji: "Agh!" (slaps hand to forehead in mock revelation)  
Shizuku: "What?"  
Seiji (mock panic): "I can't stand it! Let me outta here! I'm trapped on a plane with a nutcase!"  
Shizuku: "You jerk! I can be inspired by the smallest things – time travel round the world by a fast spaceship – just looking out this window at the islands below," (she gesticulates downwards with a finger) "I never know when a tiny seed will germinate and suddenly a whole story will pop into my head – so I keep notes. For later."  
Seiji (edging away from here a little): "Right. I see…."  
Shizuku: "Seiji! Yes you will see! Just you wait! In years to come when my time travel novel is known the world over, I'll remind you of this conversation!"  
Seiji: "Yeah, I'm sure you will."


	9. Chapter Eight: Descent to Milan

**Chapter Eight – Descent to Milan**

A view of cloud tops below and the plane cruising above. Late afternoon, the light on the clouds and along the side of the 747 is warm and golden.

Cut to:

The cabin interior. Main view. Passengers are crashed out as people always are at the end of long haul flights. The stewardesses still looking as crisp and fresh as the minute they dressed this morning, go about their jobs.

Pilot (over PA system): "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Suzuki again. We are about to commence our descent to Linate airport and we should be landing on time at 7:35p.m. The temperature in Milan this evening is currently 27 degrees. There has been some rain and a storm is just leaving the area to the west. I'm going to take us in a descent to the north behind the storm front. We may encounter some mild turbulence but this is quite usual at this time of year. We will however have the seat belt warning lights on but please be assured that this is quite normal."

Cut to:

A view from just behind some passengers heads. There is a gentle gong sound – a "bong" and some red lights come on on the panels above their heads. There is a befuddled scrambling for seat belts.

Cut to:

Seiji buckling his seat belt closed.

Cut to:

Shizuku who already has hers locked. She's leaning forward looking down at the clouds. We see the light outside turning a beautiful pink. The cloud tops look like a gigantic pink mousse dessert.

Cut to:

A close up of Shizuku's eyes. They widen in wonder.

Shizuku (quietly to herself): "Oh… so beautiful…"

Cut to:

Seiji, close up. He has his headphones on again and we hear faintly a retro-techno track he's listening to. His head is bobbing and his hand taps on his knee in time with the music.

Cut to:

Exterior view of the plane. Seiji's music is louder, it's a driving techno rhythm, cheerful; something you can't possibly not want to tap along with. The plane is facing left, its nearside lit up pink from the sinking sun. Slowly the port wing lifts up, the starboard wing tilts down and the big jet begins a gentle descending starboard turn. As the turn begins the sunlight catches the first porthole on its side and it sparkles golden like a jewel. Then the turning fuselage catches the sunlight on the second window. Then the third. The glow fades from the first window and the reflection of the setting sun runs down the side of the big jet window by window as it curves around. If jet planes could dance, the 747 would be the biggest ballet dancer ever. The motion is quite beautiful, graceful, the banking turn goes on and on, down, down towards the clouds.

We keep the plane in view getting smaller as the techno music track runs through. Eventually the cloud swallows it and it's lost to view. The music fades.

Cut to:

Shizuku. This shot rattles a little and bumps about. Turbulence. Shizuku holds her seat armrests.

Shizuku: "Oh."

She swallows hard, shakes her head. She reaches over to the seat back in front of Seiji and pulls out a bottle of mineral water, she unscrews the cap and takes a couple of swallows.

Shizuku: "Urh, my ears."

Beyond her we can see grey and purple clouds skimming past the window.

Cut to:

(Music: a different retro-techo track. The synthesizer tune begins quietly during this scene).

Some grasses and shrubs on an overgrown bank. It's a little darker now, dusk is almost upon us. In the centre of the shot is a small growth of wild flowers, their pale blue petals waft in the breeze. Higher up the shot towards the top of the grassy bank a larger shrub moves and a black nose peeps out from behind it from the left. The wet nose sniffs. Attached to the nose a pointed dog-like snout comes into view. The owner of the nose and snout reveals itself from behind the bush. A female fox, a young vixen. Her coat is a lustrous reddish brown, her underside a tawny cream. She is healthy, alert, sniffing, moving slowly. Her big dog ears turn about picking up any noises that might indicate danger or dinner. Suddenly she stops, ears upright, her head turned about. Alerted, she considers some new information.

Our view tilts up and we see the top of the grassy bank come into shot. There is a wire fence along the top of the bank, its diamond mesh making a pattern across the view that is slowly revealed beyond it. A tarmac runway. Two rows of marker lights stretch away into an impossible distance.

(Music: the synthesizer tune now kicks hard in to its main theme, loud).

Suddenly the scene is a blaze of bright white light, every petal, every blade of grass burns a shadow behind it and these shadows all move slowly from left to right like a time lapse shot of the shadows cast by the sun. The vixens eyes stare momentarily into the light, she's pinned in place in surprise. The bright light goes out, darkness returns to the bank. A colossal shadow passes over the bank and the vixen. She bolts out of shot to the right. Beyond the fence we see the runway painted by the moving pool of bright light from the powerful landing headlights of an approaching plane.

Cut to:

Shizuku, her face glued to the window. She's wide-eyed.

Cut to:

Seiji, wearing his headphones. Eyes shut he's bobbing his head and wears a rapturous expression.

Cut to:

The wire security fence and the runway beyond. This shot is drawn in telephoto format so that the distance is greatly foreshortened. The shadow that spooked the fox moves away from us toward the runway. A roar fills our ears as the 747 passes over the airport boundary fence. Moments later four sets of undercarriage wheels come into shot from above, each as big as a truck, descending, then the jet is filling the shot, nose wheels, fuselage, tail. The plane is angled back in a steep descent, nose high, bleeding off speed descending belly first. There are red white and green navigation and warning lights festooned around it like Christmas tree lights. A big red flashing light under it's belly, a white light on top behind the cockpit, another on the top of the tail fin. Red and green lamps on the wingtips. The pool of illumination from its headlamps is now lighting up the runway some distance ahead.

The field of focus of the telephoto view changes so that the diamond wire mesh of the fence becomes blurred while the descending plane stays sharp.

Cut to:

Cabin interior. Close up of Shizuku, nose against the window.

Shizuku: "Almost down."

Cut to:

A shot from a camera fixed to the underside of the 747. About 40 feet in front of us the red flashing warning light rotates spilling blood red illumination onto the scene every few seconds. Above us the big black bulk of the lower fuselage fills the top of the shot. To left and right are the main undercarriage legs and towards the two edges of the shot the underside of the wings and the two inboard engines are visible. At the bottom of the shot the runway surface rolls toward us, a white painted broken line down the middle of our view. The runway surface is bruised by numerous dark skid marks where plane tyres have touched down.

Cut to:

Shizuku's face. Eyes wide.

Cut to:

(Music: techno music builds to a crescendo).

Underbelly of the plane again. We are lower and slower. Suddenly the port undercarriage assembly makes contact with the ground and there is a puff of smoke from the tyres and a sharp squeal of protest from the rubber, a second later the centre and starboard undercarriage hits down with a second puff of smoke. These big jets carry their main undercarriage in pivoting assemblies and so far only the rearmost axles have contacted. But now, as speed falls off and the plane can no longer fly, gravity grips it and holds it down. All four main undercarriage assemblies slam hard down onto the tarmac, all sixteen tyres are down, more squeals as the rubber instantly heats up. Immediately there is a demonic roar as the four engines reverse their thrust, the sound is intolerable. We see the angle of the runway surface to the plane's body changing as the giant sinks down and the nose wheel comes to the ground. The long slats of air dams extend down from the underside of the wings to further brake the plane.

Cut to:

Seiji and Shizuku. The shot rattles and bounces from the motion of the plane. The roar of the reversing jet engines is loud even in the cabin. Both teenagers bodies snap forwards against their seatbelts as the plane slows.

A nearby passenger (off camera, alarmed): "Ah!"

Shizuku puts one hand forward against the seat in front to brace herself. Seiji turns to look at her, she stares back, her face showing a mixture of excitement and fear.

Seiji (loudly: he has his headphones on): "Woooo-hooooo! Isn't it great?"  
Shizuku: "Oh my god!"

Even though it doesn't seem possible, the roar of engines gets even louder.

Cut to:

Underbelly camera. The runway is passing beneath our point of view slower now. The engines and air brakes have brought the jet under control.

Cut to:

A distant exterior shot of the 747 reaching the end of the runway. It slows to some 20 miles an hour and turns off the runway end. There are white flood lamps mounted at the base of the tail fin. The red Japan Airlines logo on the tail is lit up by an oval of white light.

(Music: techno track ends).

Cut to:

Seiji and Shizuku.

Shizuku: "Wow, fantastic. That was incredible. You should have told me flying was like this!"  
Seiji (taking off his headphones, filled with enthusiasm): "And spoil the surprise? I _love_ flying, its great, no matter how many times I go. As landings go, though, that was a pretty hard one. I'd give it nine out of ten."

Cut to:

The plane rolling slowly toward an airport building. The sun is setting. The plane taxis slowly into a parking bay and the engines shut down. Ground vehicles scurry around. A truck with a staircase attached to it drives slowly up to the main cabin door, baggage cars approach. All the panoply of a modern airport working efficiently.

Cut to:

The plane's exit door from inside the cabin. A stewardess ushers the passengers off. A queue of people disembarking. Shizuku steps into shot from the left.

Shizuku: "Thank you. Goodbye."  
Stewardess: "Thank you, miss, safe journey."

Shizuku steps out onto the top of the staircase.

Cut to:

View looking up at Shizuku from part way down the stairs. The glow of the setting sun lights her face. She takes a big breath of Italian air.

Shizuku: "Ahhh. Hello Italy!"


	10. Chapter Nine: Arrival

**Chapter Nine – Arrival**

Looking across a large room filled with passengers. There is marble flooring and walls with concrete pillars at intervals. Several slow moving queues snake across the room towards a row of desks in glass booths along one wall. Exits to an adjoining room are behind the row of booths. Signs above the desks read "Controllo Passaporti."

Cut to:

A tracking shot – the camera moves slowly along a queue of people. We see them in profile. For the most part they are tired and fed up.

Cut to:

A view of Seiji and Shizuku. Side by side they face us. We see only their heads and shoulders at first and the camera then slowly zooms out. At waist height we see they have a luggage trolley with them. Their hand luggage is on it. They both look shattered, ready for sleep. Nothing happens at all in the shot for 10 seconds. Then Seiji turns his head to his left. Another actionless few seconds. Then we see the upper half of a blue suitcase slide past in front of the couple. After a gap half a big black hold-all slides by, then the top half of a red suitcase. There is no reaction on the couple's faces. Seiji turns his head back to look in front again.

Two men in suits walk behind them in the background. They both pull weekend bags on wheels.

Cut to:

Looking down on Seiji and Shizuku from an oblique angle. They are stood by the baggage claim carousel. Luggage slides past on the conveyor. Other passengers, equally animated, wait to either side.

A sign hangs from the ceiling. In several languages it shows "Ritiro Bagagli" or "Baggage Reclaim."

Cut to:

Shizuku walking, she is tired. The room behind her is of similar uninspiring architecture to the rooms in the airport we've already seen. Zoom out a little to see Seiji walking beside her. He is pushing the trolley with their bags on. He looks equally shattered. They pass a green sign "Controllo Dogana, Niente da Dichiarare" "Customs Control. Nothing to Declare."

Cut to:

A man in a cheap dark suit with greasy hair and a thin moustache. He holds a piece of cardboard with AMASAWA printed on it by hand in black marker pen. He's craning his neck, trying to get a better view over the people coming out of customs control. When he's not driving taxis he looks like he might be a used car salesman. Or a mafia debt collector.

Cut to:

A view behind Seiji and Shizuku walking in a crowd out of customs. We can see the greasy taxi driver bouncing up and down in the distance behind a row of other taxi drivers holding name boards. Seiji sees him and sees his own name written on the card.

Seiji: "Here's our driver, c'mon, let's go."


	11. Chapter Ten: Shizuku's Vision

**Chapter Ten – Shizuku's Vision**

A 3/4 front view of a black car driving along. Streetlamps and trees go by, other traffic passes in the opposite direction. The car is driving on the right hand side of the road. Seiji and Shizuku can just be glimpsed in the back seat, Shizuku behind the driver. Nondescript light industrial buildings are behind them. Its growing dark now, the sun has set.

Cut to:

Shizuku looking out the window. She's tired but also eager to see her first Italian city. Trouble is this area of Milan is a poor advertisement for Italy as a whole. Factories go by, warehouses with lorries parked outside, anonymous office buildings. The light industrial quarter of Milan is pretty crappy; as uninspiring as the light industrial quarter of everywhere else in the world.

Shizuku: "Seiji, was this taxi sent by the school? Does it take us all the way to Cremona?"  
Seiji: "No, oh no. We're catching a train. Grandpa arranged the taxi transfer, students have to make their own way to the school. The train ride is about an hour so you can take a nap then."  
Shizuku: "Uhnnn, 'Kay. I just wanna be there already."

Shizuku turns her attention back out of the window. The car is entering a city centre area now and there are many derelict and boarded up factories. It looks like a site earmarked for land clearance and redevelopment. For no apparent reason Shizuku's eyes widen and she winds down her window.

Shizuku: "Hey, did we drive in a circle?"  
Seiji: "What?"  
Shizuku: "It feels as though I've been here before. The driver isn't doubling back to make more money or something is he?"  
Seiji (concerned): "I don't think so."

Shizuku has her head almost out the window now.

Seiji: "Signore – uh - sa dov'è la stazione?"  
Driver: "Si, si."  
Seiji: "He says the station is this way."  
Shizuku: "There's a canal up here."  
Seiji (not that interested): "Really?"  
Shizuku: "No, I mean I know there's a canal up here, and a stone bridge over it."  
Seiji: "What are you on about? Are you writing a book aloud now?"  
Shizuku: "Seiji, this is weird. I know that this street crosses a canal by a stone bridge. There's factories down below. I _know_. I've been here before."  
Seiji: "Could be, lots of factories round here."  
Shizuku (to herself, a little afraid): "What's happening to me?"  
Shizuku (to the driver): "Tassista? Mi scusi, ci sono dei canali qui?"  
Driver: "Si, si, ce n'è uno vecchio – abbandonato?"  
Seiji: "Did he say old?"  
Shizuku: "Here it is, what did I tell you?"

Cut to:

Outside view of the taxi passing one last boarded up old brick warehouse and crossing onto a bridge, the bridge is wide with filthy plate girder side walls painted a dull rusty red. It's dark now. There are streetlights along the edge of the bridge. The car slows down, in fact the whole scene slows down to slow-motion. The taxi passes out from under a pool of lamp light into an unlit area on the middle of the bridge.

Cut to:

Shizuku's face, close up from outside the car and a little behind. We see her in left profile. Her hair is blowing in the wind but in slow-motion, each strand lifting and waving gently. Time is stopping. Suddenly her face, the side of the car and the road it's travelling along are lit by full sunshine. It's not like a light switch coming on but the light grows slowly as though a door is being gradually opened. The area of light begins with Shizuku's face and grows like an ink-stain encompassing the car, then the road surface, then the side of the bridge. As the road surface and bridge side are illuminated, they change. It's not dazzling bright light but the diffused light from a warm cloudy day. Shizuku sharply draws breath. Both her hands come up and grip the car door.

Shizuku: "Oh. Oh, my God…" (her eyes grow even wider in shock).

Cut to an outside view of just above the taxi and on Seiji's side of it so we can see a wider view of what Shizuku sees. It's full daylight. The bridge they are slowly crossing is surfaced now with stone cobbles. The balustrade is stone pillars, ornately carved and with a stone handrail. There are no streetlights. Below the bridge is a wide clear canal, to the right is a dirt roadway. Travelling away from us along the roadway is an old fashioned brown lorry made up of a tractor unit and a flat bed trailer. It jostles down the unmade road raising dust. To the right of the road is a wire fence and beyond that an overgrown derelict plot. But it's to the left of the canal that our attention is drawn. Factories line the canal. They are not derelict but alive, working. They are of tin construction and painted pale green. One section is a saw-toothed roof of glass. At the far end a tall old style brick chimney vents dirty smoke into a sky of hazy blue. Along the canal-facing wall of one building is painted the name PICCOLO SpA.

Cut to:

Shizuku's face, her gaping mouth and wide eyes tell us all we need to know.

Cut to:

Inside the taxi. We see Seiji lean forwards to peer out Shizuku's window. He moves in slow motion. The back of his head is visible to the right, Shizuku's head to the left hanging out the window. Beyond the two heads we see darkness, the dirty bridge side, derelict factories in the distance.

Seiji: "What?"

Cut to:

The view from outside and above the taxi again from Seiji's side. Beyond the bridge it's dark. We see a muddy ditch full of weeds and shopping trolleys. The roadway is choked with undergrowth. To the right there is a clear concrete space with a modern steel famed single storey warehouse on it. Lines of modern trucks have their trailers backed up to loading bays. In the distance to the left all is dereliction. The taxi passes from the pool of darkness into the pool of light from the next street lamp. The slow-motion effect is slipping away and the taxi accelerates again back to real time.

Cut to:

A view down from the bridge parapet in daylight. A motor barge comes out from under the bridge, its old engine makes a low and slow erratic chugging. We just glimpse the bow come into view and some tarpaulin covered hatches. By now the brown lorry has reached the factory. Dust hangs in the air along the unmade road.

Cut to:

Shizuku's face in profile looking out the taxi. This view is from beside the driver's side window and we are looking back at her right profile. The scene is still lit and we hear the barge's motor but then the light begins to fade, first from the bridge then the roadway then the side of the car until finally only Shizuku's face is warmed by the summer sun of 60 years ago.

Shizuku: "No, don't go."

The light is gone. The harsh light of a streetlamp lights her face casting deep shadow under her brows, nose and chin. The taxi passes off the bridge and the scene is cut off by a building.

Cut to:

Outside view of the taxi driving along modern streets, traffic passing the other way.

Cut to:

Inside the taxi looking back from the drivers seat. Seiji sits back in his seat, looking at Shizuku with concern. Shizuku is still looking back behind the taxi. She lets go of the car door and turns to look out the rear window. It's dark back there, only streetlamps. She turns round and looks down, she's tightly clasping her hands in her lap. A warm breeze comes in the open window and ruffles her hair.

Cut to:

Close up of her face. There is wetness at her lower eyelids.

Seiji: "What was it?"  
Shizuku: "I… I'm not sure."

Cut to:

Seiji's face in close up. He looks worried.

Cut to:

Shizuku's face.

Shizuku: "It was daytime, a long time ago. There was a boat on the canal, men working in the factories."

She turns to Seiji.

Shizuku: "Can jet lag cause hallucinations Seiji?"  
Seiji: "Not that I know of."  
Seiji: "Come here, you must be exhausted."

Cut to:

Inside the taxi looking back from the drivers seat. Seiji reaches out for her and Shizuku crumples into his arms, lifting her clasped hands to her chest in a worried knot. She rests her forehead on his shoulder.

Cut to:

Outside view of the taxi driving along. It's just another summer evening in Milan.


	12. Chapter Eleven: Tony and Marco

**Chapter Eleven – Tony and Marco**

The camera is at ground level, our point of view is at the roadside. We look up from a distance at a large public building. The building has several arches along its frontage and its façade is lit by flood lamps. A black taxi enters the shot from the left and drives by, its tyres splash through a puddle and a splatter of water speckles the camera lens. The car turns left and draws up at the kerb. We see Seiji and Shizuku get out, the luggage is unloaded and the formalities of tipping the driver are taken care of. The driver gets back in the car and it pulls away. The scene, the floodlit building are distorted by the drips of puddle water on the camera lens.

Cut to:

Looking along the length of a station platform, passengers stand about, the neon lights mounted under the awning cast merciless white light over the whole scene. To the left is a train. Seiji and Shizuku enter the shot from the right. Shizuku stops.

Voice (over PA system): "Il Treno IR2663 per Lodi – Piacenza – Cremona – Mantua – Padua – Venezia. Treno IR2663, è in partenza tra cinque minuti, al binario quattro."  
Seiji: "Here's our train."  
Shizuku: "This carriage. Please."  
Seiji: "Sure?"  
Shizuku: "I just need to sit down…"  
Seiji: "OK. Here."

He pushes a rubber button and the doors fold open with a hiss of compressed air.

Seiji: "Go on."

She climbs up.

Shizuku: "The bags."  
Seiji: "Don't worry about that, find a seat."

Cut to:

A passenger compartment viewed from a side corridor. It's not very welcoming. Brick red plastic covered padded seats, sand coloured walls that look like linoleum. Aluminium luggage racks. Harsh lighting. A large window with rounded corners and aluminium strip trim. Just the place you wouldn't want to sleep for a journey. Shizuku enters, her back to us. She collapses on one of the bench seats, sits upright for a moment then slowly leans over and lies on her side, completely drained. We hear puffing and grunts of effort. Seiji comes in. He puts their two small bags on the luggage racks, then goes back outside and drags their big bags into the compartment. They fill most of the floor space. Seiji climbs over the bags to the window seat next to Shizuku. He looks down at her then leans forward and unzips his bag. He pulls out a tee shirt, folds it and leaning awkwardly over Shizuku so as not to put pressure on her, he carefully lifts her head and lays the folded tee shirt on the seat. He lets her head down gently onto the makeshift pillow.

Shizuku: "Mmmm…"

He takes off his jacket and lays it over her. Seiji finally gets comfortable at his window seat and studies the view outside. His reflection stares back at him. We hear the honk of the locomotive horn and the train begins to move.

Cut to:

A double line of railway tracks, there are fields either side. There are overhead lines for the electric trains to draw power for their motors. Along the right track a big slow diesel locomotive rumbles into view. It's only travelling at about 20 miles per hour and its motor grumbles meatily. It draws a long train of big oil tanker cars behind it. The freight train rattles and its axle boxes screech and complain. There is a faint honk in the distance and the passenger train comes the other way on the nearer track. It has a pantograph raised taking current from the overhead electric wire. A bright spark flashes from the point of contact where pantograph and wire touch. It rushes by, coaches and wheels clattering. The lights from its windows light up the fence at the trackside and the adjacent crops.

Cut to:

The compartment again. Outside we see the dirty curved sides of the tanker cars going past. The freight train recedes clunking into the night. Seiji continues to stare out the window. As the passenger train rushes through the night its gentle motion soothes him. Slowly his eyes close and he dozes.

Cut to:

A station platform, a yellow painted station building is to the left, an awning above. The usual station clutter of lights, posters and signs. The train slows to a crawl and draws up on our right. There is a squeal of brakes.

Station official (walking along the platform): "Cremona. Cre-mo-na!"

A door opens with a hiss. Seiji appears dragging a bag. He goes back inside. Shizuku comes out and stands on the platform. She has the hand luggage. Seiji reappears with the second bag.

The official on the platform blows a whistle, he glances to left and right along the train and raises a white lamp towards us, a signal of 'all clear' to the driver. The locomotive horn honks again briefly and with a hiss and a whine the train begins to move. No-one else has got off.

Cut to:

Looking along the platform in the other direction. The train accelerates away on the track to our left. As it leaves the platform the red flashing tail lamp marks its curving route out of the station and into the distance. The clackety-clack of wheels on rails recedes into the summer night. We are left in silence with just the whirring of crickets and the coloured signal lights.

Cut to:

Seiji and Shizuku.

Seiji: "How are you doing?"  
Shizuku: "Mmm… 'Kay I guess. Is it far?"  
Seiji: "Yeah, It's the other side of town. But it's not that big a town. Shall I call a taxi?"  
Shizuku: "We should try and save our money. I think I can make it."  
Seiji: "That bag is gonna kill us."  
Shizuku: "It does have wheels you know. Not very good ones, but at least we don't have to carry it."  
Seiji: "Wheels? You never mentioned wheels before."  
Shizuku: "Sorry, was I supposed to?"  
Seiji: "Damn, the bag has wheels. The damn bags got wheels and I've been struggling to haul it on and off trolleys for hours!"  
Shizuku: "Sorry. I thought it was kind of obvious."  
Seiji (puts a hand to the back of his head, runs his fingers through his hair): "OK, OK. We're both exhausted. Let's not get into a stupid fight about a bag with wheels. Deal?"  
Shizuku: "Deal."  
Seiji: "Can you pull it?"  
Shizuku: "Think so. Keep an eye on me. If I'm suddenly not there you know I've given up."  
Seiji: "OK, we can do this. Just grit your teeth and think of the nice soft warm bed that's waiting for you."  
Shizuku: "Right." (she straightens her shoulders). "I'm ready, let's go."

Seiji hauls his huge rucksack onto his back. His smaller rucksack clips to its front straps and sits on his chest, a sensible balanced arrangement. Shizuku adjusts her pink shoulder bag and picks up the front handle of the huge military bag.

Cut to a sequence of scenes fading one to another:

An outside view of the station at street level. The couple come out and turn right, exiting the shot to the left; The couple toiling slowly up a gentle hill. Old buildings both sides. Narrow road. A couple of cars pass them, splashing headlights over them; An alleyway, steps lead down off one side of a piazza. Seiji stops. He pulls a piece of paper from a shirt pocket. Unfolds it and looks at it. After a few seconds he turns it through 180 degrees and studies it again.

Seiji: "This way."

He turns down the steps. Shizuku follows him slowly her bag clunking down each step; A view looking down from rooftops into the T junction of two alleyways. The roofs are red curved pottery tiles, typically Italian. Seiji and Shizuku enter the shot from the top of the picture. From this angle they are foreshortened, all heads and feet. Seiji stops at the junction and considers the new route to his left. Then he points ahead and the couple press on.

Cut to:

A small courtyard perhaps 40 feet square. It has a cobbled surface and the left side is slightly higher than the right. In the centre is an old stone horse trough, and next to it a pump for fresh water. Across the end of the courtyard in front of us is a low building - stables or a coach house. It has a single story at courtyard level and a smaller story above with dormer windows set into the tiled roof. To the left is a larger old building with three steps up to a large green front door. A name board above the door invites us to stay at the HOTEL ALFONSO. The name board is illuminated by two old fashioned wall lamps on curved cast brackets. The building on the right and lower side of the courtyard is much more interesting. An old house of several stories, at first storey level there is a balcony running along the whole frontage. It has stone pillars along the balustrade and under this balcony the overhang is covered in by stone arches, making a colonnade. Apart from the hotel name board lamps there is just one other source of illumination in the courtyard, a similar lamp inside the colonnade above the door of the big house. The only entry into this courtyard is down an alleyway behind us. Down this alley walk Seiji and Shizuku, entering the shot from our right.

They stop on the threshold of the courtyard.

Seiji (sighing): "Well, this is it."  
Shizuku: "Oh, thank god for that. I've just about had it."

Cut to:

The doorway of the interesting old house. A big wooden arched door studded with black iron boltheads. Seiji and Shizuku walk into shot from the right. Seiji stops before the door and checks his watch.

Seiji: "Hm, eleven o'clock. Well, nothing else for it."

He pulls an old metal rod bell pull. A bell jangles faintly. Shizuku looks at a brass plaque beside the bell pull. It reads ADRIANO GUARNIERI and underneath SCUOLA DI VIOLINI.

Shizuku: "Nice old place."

A few moments go by. Shizuku leans her forehead on Seiji's shoulder. A light comes on inside and the door opens. An old man with white stubble on his head and on his chin wearing a collarless shirt, dark trousers and some odd kind of knitted waistcoat opens the door.

Old man: "Si?"  
Seiji: "Sono, Seiji Amasawa per… hmm... per la scuola di violini." (he seems to just grab the wording off the sign, it probably isn't right but the broken Italian works).  
Old man: "Ah! Signorino Amasawa! Prego, entrate pure!" (he extends an arm in welcome).  
Seiji (turning to Shizuku): "Well, this is where I say goodnight. You're in the internationally acclaimed five star Hotel Alfonso, remember? You'll be OK?"  
Shizuku (a tired smile): "Sure, go on, you must be shattered. I'll see you in the morning. What time does school start?"  
Seiji: "Nine. Come over a few minutes before."  
Shizuku: "I'll try, if I can wake up."  
Seiji: "Come here."

She steps close to him. They hug briefly.

Seiji: "Love you."  
Shizuku: "Mmmm, me too."  
Seiji: "Go on, or he'll get cross, the caretaker is a bit mad."  
Shizuku: "OK, bye!"  
Old Man: "Signorina?"  
Shizuku: "Yes. Ah… si. Tsukishima. Shizuku Tsukishima. L'Hotel?" (she points behind her).  
Old Man: "Ah! Signorina Soo-kee-sheema." (he considers her for a moment) "Per favore." (he holds out an arm indicating she should follow him). "Si, si, da questa parte, Signorina."

Shizuku follows the old man across the courtyard and up the steps. He opens the hotel door and goes in.

Cut to:

Interior of the Hotel Alfonso. A light is on above a reception desk. It's like stepping back in time 40 years. A big polished bar of a reception desk, an ancient cash register, shelves behind full of keys, letters in pigeon holes, books and junk, a musty rug on the polished tiled floor in front. Along the front of the reception desk faded posters are glued, advertising music recitals and art events long gone. To the right is a darkened dining room, we can just glimpse tables with white cloths. To the other side is a door marked "PRIVATO" and a narrow staircase. The old man stops this side of the counter. Behind the counter is a huge fat bald man. He wears a crumpled white shirt, a red checked apron that looks like it has blood stains down it and a huge grin. If sweating was an Olympic sport, he'd be a potential gold medallist.

Old man: "Buona sera Antonio, c'è una signorina a nome tuo. Il nome è Soo-kee-sheema."  
Fat man: "Signorina, buona sera!"

It doesn't seem possible that his grin could get any wider but it does. If he were to open his mouth wide the top of his head might come off. When angry this man is probably the scariest man in the world, but wearing this maniacal grin he appears full of life and totally approachable.

Shizuku (bowing low): "Buona sera signore."  
Fat man (coming out from behind the counter with surprising speed and bowing low in his turn before Shizuku): "Ah, bene, signorina Soo-kee-sheema!"  
Fat man (in English): "Do. You. Speak. English?"  
Shizuku (taken aback): "Yes. Yes. A little."  
Fat man: "Eccellente! My name is Piscotti, Antonio Piscotti. But please," (he makes a welcoming sweeping gesture with open arms), "call me Tony!"  
Shizuku (in English): "Mr. Tony. Good evening."  
Old man: "Antonio mi scusi, buonanotte."  
Tony: "Buonanotte Fabrizio!"

The old man shuffles to the door.

Shizuku: "Signore Fabrizio?"

Mr. Fabrizio stops, his hand on the door handle. He doesn't even turn his head.

Fabrizio: "Si?"  
Shizuku: "Molte grazie signore"

She bows low.

Fabrizio (muttering, dismissive with a wave of the hand): "Prego, prego."

He leaves, shutting the door behind him.

Shizuku: "Please, call me Shizuku."  
Tony: "OK!" (practicing the sound) "She-zoo-koo. She-zoo-koo. Very nice name! Come, come, She-zoo-koo – your room?"  
Shizuku: "Yes please. I'm very tired."

Tony looks blank.

Shizuku: "Er…"

Shizuku tries to think of the Italian for 'very tired' but at this late stage of the journey it won't come. She puts her palms together and lays one cheek on them, tilting her head.

Tony: "Ah… si! Naturalmente." (In English), "Please, the stairs. Up, up. Top, top!"

Tony grabs a key off the board behind the desk, opens the door marked 'PRIVATO' and yells through:

Tony: "Marco! Bagagli! Camera sedici!"

Shizuku goes up the stairs. Tony follows her.

Cut to:

An attic room, it has walls that slope inwards at the top under the eaves of the roof. It's reached by a steep stair like a ships stair that comes up through the floor at one side. The hole in the floor the staircase makes is protected by a wooden banister with turned spindles. The wall behind the stairs is closed off by an en-suite shower room. Our view faces the stairs which are in the far right corner. A bed has its head against the centre of the left wall. A chest of drawers is beside it with a reading lamp. An electric fan is by the bedside. It whirs silently and moves from side to side. Shizuku comes into shot climbing the stairs, Tony follows her, puffing and panting and sweating profusely. Shizuku looks around the room, puts her pink bag on the bed. You call tell at once that the room is cheap, but at least it's clean and presentable.

Cut to:

A view facing the other way, towards the front of the room. A pair of shuttered doors are in the centre of the wall, to the left is a cheap wardrobe, to the right is a simple but comfortably squishy looking armchair and a small writing table with a lamp on it. Tony approaches the shuttered doors and pushes them open. There is a minimal balcony outside, only about a foot deep. Enough to stand on and get some fresh air but no room to sit. It has old curved metal railings painted green. The sounds of a city at night waft in: traffic, distant music, faint chattering voices. Tony turns round.

Cut to:

The previous view. Tony waddles back from the balcony shutters.

Tony (gesturing to the door near the stairs and grinning): "Bath. Bath. Please signorina."  
Shizuku: "Grazie."

Shizuku goes to the bathroom and peeks in. She comes out.

Shizuku: "Really, it's lovely. Thank you. Er… grazie."  
Tony: "Prego."

There is a pause. The two face each other slightly awkwardly, the language barrier prevents small talk. There is a sound below.

Tony: "Ah, Marco."

He goes to the top of the stairs and we hear Marco grunting and cursing to drag up Shizuku's monster bag. Eventually a thin spotty youth with black hair comes up the stairs. He looks about 17 and is lean and shy looking. He looks like he ate his last good meal at about the age of 12. A greater contrast to Tony probably isn't to be found in the whole of Cremona. He drags the bag to the middle of the room. Shizuku quickly rummages in her purse.

Shizuku: "Grazie."

She gives Marco some coins. The boy takes them, looks at them like he has just been given a dirty sock and goes down stairs cursing under his breath. Tony looks at Shizuku and shrugs.

Tony: "Me very sorry."  
Shizuku: "No, it's alright."  
Tony (leaving): "Buonanotte signorina!"  
Shizuku: "Good night Mr. Tony."

The fat man departs. Surprisingly the stairs don't collapse under his weight. Shizuku stands in the middle of the room. She looks about listlessly. She drops her purse on the chest of drawers and sits on the bed. Then she flops backwards onto it and groans with exhaustion.

Cut to:

A view of the city at night.


	13. Chapter Twelve: Art

**Chapter Twelve – Art**

The city. An overhead view. It's morning. Red roofs, cream stucco buildings. A church clock bell chimes - it's an old world sound, reassuring, familiar.

Cut to:

A narrow old street. Market stall holders push barrows of fruit and vegetables.

Cut to:

A café. The owner is washing the pavement down with a hose. A fat middle-aged woman in black goes by, they greet each other.

Cut to:

The dining room of the Hotel Alfonso. Marco, looking only a little more presentable than he did last night, is wearing a white waiters apron and laying out cutlery.

Cut to:

Shizuku asleep. She turns onto one side, mumbling. Lies still for a moment then turns again onto her back. She opens her eyes.

Shizuku: "Uhhrrr…"

Cut to:

The closed balcony doors, the shutters are only slightly open and sunlight comes in in narrow slices between the slats.

Cut to:

The bed again. Shizuku sits up and slides her legs out of bed on the side away from us. She rests her elbows on her knees and puts her forehead in her hands. With an effort she stands up. She's wearing a mans pyjama jacket but no trousers. The too-long sleeves are rolled back up her forearms. The jacket is a bit short, she's just about covered - but only just. She turns and goes towards the shutters. She's a mess, there are dark marks under her eyes and her hair is all over the place.

Cut to:

Looking toward the shutters. Shizuku comes sleepily into shot from the left. She goes to the shuttered window and pulls a small metal lever at one side, the shutter slats open like a large blind and sunlight streams into the room.

Shizuku: "Nnnnnn…"

She bows her head. Then pushes the shutter doors wide open.

Cut to:

A view from outside looking back at Shizuku at the little balcony. Her sleepy face takes in the scene without reaction.

Cut to:

A view outwards now, we are seeing what she sees. Red rooftops are just below her room with trees and a brown slow moving river in the distance. Farmland lies beyond the river. To the right in the distance are the girders of the railway bridge.

Cut to:

A view of the balcony from the left, we see Shizuku leaning on the metal railing, her left profile. She leans out and gazes dozily at the view.

Seiji: "Yo! Shizuku! Good morning!"

Shizuku looks to her right. A little lower down than her room and in an upper window of the gable end wall of the academy across the courtyard we can see Seiji looking out a tiny window.

Cut to:

Close up of Seiji, we see only his head, one arm and part of his chest through the tiny window, it must be only 18 inches square. He doesn't seem to be wearing anything. He waves.

Cut to:

View beside Shizuku again. She waves back.

Shizuku: "Hi!"  
Seiji (faintly): "Hey, I got the honeymoon suite!"  
Shizuku: "Great balcony!"  
Seiji: "See you in a while!"

His head and arm disappear. Shizuku goes back into her room.

Cut to:

View inside the room looking towards the bathroom. Shizuku comes into shot from the right. We see her from behind. She walks between the bed and the wooden banisters that protect the stairs. She unbuttons her pyjama jacket as she goes. She enters the bathroom and goes out of sight. We hear a shower running. A moment later a bare arm appears across the doorway and pushes the door shut.

Cut to:

A wooden interior door. We hear muffled steps coming downstairs. A key clicks in a lock and the door opens. Shizuku comes through. It's the door at the foot of the steep flight of stairs that lead to her attic room. She's carrying her pink bag. She turns, locks the door, tries the handle to make sure it's locked then exits the shot to the right along a corridor.

Cut to:

The courtyard. Seiji is leaning against the school building wall. The hotel door opens and Shizuku comes down the steps. Seiji comes forward and they meet by the horse trough. They hold hands, left in right, right in left.

Shizuku: "Morning!"  
Seiji (obviously impressed): "Hey, you look amazing, where's the party?"  
Shizuku: "Thanks" (she's wearing a short vest-top dress. She spins round for him).  
Seiji: "Sleep well? How's your room?"  
Shizuku: "Room's fine. I still feel a bit spaced out actually, must have slept too hard."  
Seiji: "Me too. Can you believe that Signore Guarnieri left some study work in the room? I hope all the other students had it as well."  
Shizuku: "When does school start?"  
Seiji (looking at his watch): "Uh, about now actually. Sorry." (his face brightens) "But we have only a morning today, a sort of start up session, so I'll be free from about two o'clock."  
Shizuku: "OK."  
Seiji: "So meet me here again at two, right?"  
Shizuku: "Sure. See you later."

She turns to camera and runs off scene toward us, waving back over her shoulder. Seiji watches her go then turns to go in school. A couple of other students are hanging around under the colonnade.

Cut to:

A narrow cobbled street. Shizuku walks away from us slowly, glancing in windows. A young man comes toward us on a moped. The moped makes a 'put-putting' sound as it goes by. He gives Shizuku a long look in the way that young men do.

Cut to:

A piazza, a church is on one side of it and Shizuku is standing in front looking up. The wall of the church is pale grey stone but is bleached by a hot sun. She turns to walk on.

Cut to:

A small park, with railings bordering the road, stone pillars either side of an entry way. Shizuku comes into shot from the right along the pavement and goes in.

Cut to:

A wooden bench under a tree by a gravel path. Shizuku comes into shot from the right and sits on the bench in the shade. She looks about, interested in what's going on.

Shizuku (waving a hand in front of her face): "Whew, hot."

She gets a book out of her bag and begins to read. A dark grey cat comes up, small, bony and thin. Shizuku sees it.

Shizuku: "Hello cat."

The grey tabby shies away and runs off.

Shizuku: "Hm. Must be a stray."

Cut to:

The Hotel Alfonso dining room. We are looking out from inside the room through a large pair of doors to a patio outside. There are more dining tables covered with white linen out there. The tables stand in bright sunshine, the colours are washed out. The short shadows tell us it's later in the day.

Cut to:

The patio. There are about six tables. Two or three of them have couples sat at them. The hotel wall is old mellow red brick and has a flowering climbing plant covering much of it. Next to the dining patio is a small garden. It's a tiny cramped plot though and the stucco wall of the adjacent property is only about 20 feet away, the patio and garden are in a narrow gap between the tall buildings. Once we get our bearings we realise that Shizuku's balcony must be directly above the patio, facing south toward the river.

Cut to:

Shizuku and Seiji sat at one of the tables. They eat a light lunch.

Shizuku: "Not what you expected then?"  
Seiji: "Signore Guarnieri is dropping us in the deep end. It's sink or swim. Can you believe this morning we had to write a history of the Cremona violin making industry _without referring to any books_. I think he's testing us, seeing which of us is suitable to invest more of his time in." (he puts a hand to his forehead) "My head hurts."

He takes a sip of his drink.

Seiji: "I don't know how much of me you're going to see in the next three weeks. It's going to be pretty intensive. I'm sorry, maybe you shouldn't have come."  
Shizuku: "No way! I love it here, the town is wonderful. Tony the hotel owner is really nice and I'd much rather sit in a park here and study than in the library back home."  
Seiji: "Another thing. The class is mixed; there's four Italian guys, a Frenchman, a German, an American and me. The signore teaches in a mixture of Italian and English so as well as learning, I'm having to translate as well… Urrrggnnn…"  
Shizuku (putting a hand to his shoulder): "Oh, my poor Seiji. Well after school each day I'll look after you, we'll do whatever you want. I have all day to study or write so the evenings will be your time, OK?"  
Seiji: "Thanks, appreciate it."

Tony comes to their table. How he fits between the other tables without knocking them aside is something of a mystery.

Tony: "Buongiorno She-zoo-koo."  
Shizuku: "Mr. Tony! Hello. This is my friend Seiji Amasawa."  
Tony: "Buongiorno signorino."  
Seiji: "Sir." (he bows)  
Tony: "So, how are the tagliatelli, eh?"  
Shizuku: "Very good. It reminds me of noodles a little bit. It's very creamy though, I don't want to get fat."  
Tony (he laughs, sweat running down his face): "Get fat? On my tagliatelli, ha ha ha, impossible!"

He slaps his huge middle and walks off still laughing.

Cut to:

Later that afternoon. Shizuku and Seiji are walking along a fairly busy and narrow road. Traffic rattles by. Seiji sees a side street that goes up steeply to the left. It has shops along it. Seiji points. They stop. Then they turn and cross the road between the traffic.

Cut to:

A view looking down the sloping side street. There is no traffic here. We can see the main road at the bottom of the hill, cars pass. Shizuku and Seiji walk toward us. They stop from time to time window shopping. The street seems to be mostly antique shops, but full of expensive art.

Cut to:

A view of a shop front. Something large and red is low down in the window. Seiji and Shizuku walk into shot from the right and look in.

Cut to:

A view from inside the shop looking out at the couple. We can see the window display. There are a couple of stone cherubs, a big vase, a painting on an easel, a violin on a stand. In the centre of the window though is a large model of a red plane mounted on a polished wooden stand.

Cut to:

A close up of the model from Shizuku and Seiji's perspective. We see a slight discolouration of part of the view from the reflection on the glass. It's a single seat red seaplane with a large motor mounted above the wing in front of the pilot. The tail carries the red white and green stripes of the Italian air force.

Cut to:

A close up of a polished brass plate mounted on the wooden stand: SAVOIA S.21, 1929.

Cut to:

Shizuku and Seiji outside, their backs to us looking in the window.

Shizuku: "What a funny thing to have in an antique shop."  
Seiji: "What?"  
Shizuku: "That toy plane."  
Seiji: "That's not a toy, I expect some devoted model maker spent hours and hours building that."

Cut to:

A close up of the models cockpit. We see that it is indeed a beautiful model, fully rigged and with intricate details inside the cockpit, the wingspan is about three feet or a metre.

Cut to:

Shizuku and Seiji outside again.

Shizuku: "But it's hardly art. Like those statues."  
Seiji: "Why can't it be art?"

The couple are no longer looking at the plane but facing each other, we see the plane between them through the glass.

Shizuku: "Well art is stuff like painting, statues, even that vase maybe."  
Seiji: "Sure a craftsman can spend hundreds of hours on a painting or a sculpture. Then some craftsmen make violins… and some make model planes. It's the same thing. Maybe the man who made that was an old pilot, maybe it was the plane he flew in the war, and he wanted to preserve his memories by building a model of it. We can't know anything about the motivations of craftsmen. Just because it looks like a toy doesn't mean it is."

Shizuku bends down and looks carefully at the plane again. Then she stands up.

Shizuku: "Mmmm, maybe."  
Seiji: "It's more art than my violins are."

She takes out her notebook and writes in it.

Seiji: "Here we go again."  
Shizuku: "Ssshh, I'm doing art."  
Seiji (laughs): "Fine."

Cut to:

A view across a small piazza. Three or four cafés are around the perimeter. Awnings are extended and customers sit in the shade out of the fierce afternoon sun. In the centre is a fountain. Three fat stone cherubs cavort around a unicorn. Water jets squirt up from the edge of the stone basin. The water splashes and gurgles down over the stone figures. The far side of the piazza leads to the street of antique shops. We can see their roofs sloping off down the hill. Shizuku and Seiji come into view up the slope and enter the piazza.

Seiji: "Hey, this is nice."  
Shizuku: "Mmm."  
Seiji: "Let's have a drink."  
Shizuku: "Sure."

Cut to:

A table outside a café. The couple sit and sip milkshakes. A cat is sat close by watching them. It's another small scrawny one, ginger this time.

Shizuku: "Here, kitty, kitty."

She calls the cat with a kissing noise. It comes a little closer but stops again.

Shizuku: "Lots of cats round here, but they all look really wild."  
Seiji: "Maybe they are."  
Shizuku: "Why don't people look after them, like your grandpa does with Moon?"  
Seiji: "Maybe they keep the mice and rats down. If people fed them too much they'd all get fat. I can't ever remember seeing Moon catch a mouse, he's useless."  
Shizuku: "Mmm."

She looks around.

Shizuku: "I love it here. Thanks for inviting me Seiji."  
Seiji: "Well, we'll see if you still like it in a weeks' time after you've hardly seen anything of me."  
Shizuku: "Don't worry about it. I want to explore, walk everywhere. The buildings are great aren't they, they look centuries old!"  
Seiji: "I think lots of the city is sixteenth and seventeenth century."  
Shizuku: "Wow. I feel like I can walk up to them and touch them and feel the stories they have to tell: wars and princes, weddings and plagues. Ideas for books are all around here. I just have to pick them like fruit off trees."  
Seiji: "You're doing it again."  
Shizuku: "What?"  
Seiji (in a comical robotic voice): "Warning! Warning! Shizuku weirdness alert!"  
Shizuku (does her booming all powerful evil witch voice): "You can mock me, O small insignificant violin apprentice! But be prepared to bow down to the Great Storyteller of the East!"

She stands up, pointing a rolled up napkin at him like a wizard about to smite him with a spell from her wand.

Seiji: "Yeah, right."


	14. Chapter Thirteen: The Doll

**Chapter Thirteen – The Doll**

Another day. Seiji is sitting on the horse trough. Shizuku runs up to him.

Seiji: "Sorry, I gotta go, were starting!"  
Shizuku: "Learn hard – see you at five".

(Music: The main violin theme is repeated with a more up-tempo, happy variation)

A montage of days and scenes goes by, they fade in and out, layering one over another: Seiji and Shizuku eating spaghetti - Seiji gets it down his shirt and Shizuku giggles; walking hand in hand down an evening path at the riverside; Shizuku standing inside a church, looking up at the ceiling, her eyes full of wonder; Seiji in school polishing a violin; Shizuku walking to and fro in a park, a book in her hand, practicing her Italian aloud to herself; the couple lying on the grass laughing; Shizuku bending down to talk to a scruffy cat; a panicking confused Seiji reading a textbook at his desk; Shizuku studying in a library. It feels as though 4 or 5 days have gone by.

The montage fades to:

Shizuku is sat at 'their' café table in the piazza with the cherub fountain, her usual milkshake and pastry beside her. She's reading, her right elbow on the table, her chin resting in the palm of her right hand. With her left hand she turns the pages of a book. We can see the front cover "Advanced Chemistry – Stage II". From time to time Shizuku uncoils her right hand and makes notes. She stops occasionally to sip her drink.

Cut to:

A low level view looking up at Shizuku at her table, we're seeing her from the eye level of a cat.

Cut to:

A cat walking up beside Shizuku's chair. It sits, licks its paw and washes its face. This cat isn't one of the usual thin ferals that populate the city but seems well fed with a healthy coat. It has a red collar. It's a pale grey tabby, almost white. A female.

Cut to:

Seiji in school. He looks tired and bored. The teachers voice drones on about something or other. Clearly this is going over Seiji's head. He looks out the window. In his minds eye we see a memory of the scene at the café table a few days ago. A view of Shizuku's face. She is smiling, then bursts into laughter, she covers her mouth with one hand in a typical demure female manner. Refreshed by the vision, Seiji sits up and resumes taking notes.

Cut to:

The café again. Shizuku writing. She pauses, looks up for inspiration. Rubs her aching wrist. Then continues writing. The cat meows. Shizuku looks down and sees the tabby.

Cut to:

A close up of the pale tabby's face. There is a faint sparkle in its eye just like the flawed eyes of the Baron.

Shizuku: "Hello, cat, what's your name? You don't know Baron Humbert von Jikkingen do you? You've got eyes just like him."

Cut to:

Shizuku's perspective looking down at the cat. It blinks.

Cut to:

View of the table. Shizuku finishes her drink and snack and gathers up her books and notes. From her purse she retrieves money and leaves it on her plate. She rises. In the background we see a waiter stood in the café doorway. Shizuku raises an arm to him.

Shizuku: "Grazie, Adamo. Ciao!"  
Waiter: "Ciao babe!" He winks.

The cat meows again, turns and walks off left out of shot.

Shizuku: "Hey I'm not going to follow you. The last time I followed a cat all kinds of weird stuff happened."

Cut to:

A view out of the piazza looking past the cherub fountain and down the antique shop hill. Shizuku walks past the fountain and down the slope.

Cut to:

A view down the street. Shizuku makes her way down past the antique shops, the cat trotting a few yards ahead of her.

Shizuku: "It's no good leading me into one of these shops, cat, I can't afford anything in this street."

Cut to:

View looking back up the hill toward Shizuku. The view is low down from the cat's perspective. It turns at a doorway and looks back towards the girl. Once it sees her following, it jumps nimbly up a step and goes in an open doorway.

Cut to:

Close up of Shizuku's face.

Shizuku: "No, not again. This does _not_ happen twice."

Cut to:

Looking at a shop frontage. Shizuku enters the shot from the left and stops outside. She places a hand to her forehead and shades the glass, peering into the dark interior.

Cut to:

A view from across the street of the girl looking in the shop window. In the glass are reflections of the shop fronts opposite. We see the shop sign above the plate glass window. It's obviously a very expensive art shop. Shizuku shrugs her shoulders and follows the cat in.

Cut to:

Inside. It is dark in comparison to the sunlit street outside. The shop is full of paintings, statuary, furniture and especially violins. This is nothing like Mr. Nishi's Earth Shop, the place reeks of money. A well dressed lady in her mid-30s with black hair pulled back into a tight bun and a large nose is behind a counter.

Lady owner: "Buongiorno signorina."  
Shizuku: "Buongiorno signora."

She bows, Japanese customs have come with her. The lady nods her head in response. The woman is immaculately dressed – clothes, hair, make up, straight out of a fashion house. She has a kindly smile but seems careworn and tired for her age. The pale grey cat is now sat on her desk, curled up washing its tail.

Shizuku: "Do you speak English? My Italian is not good."  
Lady owner: "Of course. Please look around, you are most welcome."  
Shizuku: "Is the cat yours?"  
Lady owner: "My mothers. But she lives here with me. Lots of customers like to talk to Tikka, she's good for business."

Cut to:

A view from the back of the shop. Shizuku politely walks around, coming toward camera, pretending to study paintings on the wall to her left, and to the right on a display board in the centre of the room. Feeling a bit stupid and out of place she intends to do a circuit of the displays for the sake of politeness and then leave. It must be obvious to the owner that she isn't a serious customer. Close to camera she turns to our left behind the display board. The display has a glass fronted cabinet behind it, a cabinet invisible from the front of the shop. As she walks the shot pans left keeping her in view. As she passes the display cabinet she glances at it. And stops. We hear her gasp.

Cut to:

A close up of the cabinet. It seems to contain pieces of low value not worth displaying in a more prominent location. An old bible, a walking stick, a stone jar, a few tiny paintings, a battered tinplate toy train. And a doll.

Cut to:

(Music: A sad violin refrain).

A close up of the doll. It's a cat, it stands upright and is about 20 inches or half a metre tall. It's in very poor condition, no ears, no whiskers, the fur is grubby and worn, the glass eyes dull. It's naked apart from a voluminous skirt that was once red. One paw holds the remains of a parasol. What remains of its fur is pale grey. In the glass of the case we see Shizuku's face reflected. She comes closer and her eyes widen in surprise.

Shizuku: "Oh…. Oh my… oh look at _you_. What a mess! What happened to you?"

Cut to:

A view from the owner's desk looking toward the back of the shop. Shizuku is hidden behind the cabinet. On the desk is a small closed circuit security TV screen. Its black and white image shows the area at the back of the shop where the view from the desk is obstructed. We can see on the screen a view of Shizuku's back. She's peering into the cabinet. Suddenly the Shizuku on the TV screen leans left. Simultaneously Shizuku's head appears around the side of the cabinet at the back of the shop.

Shizuku: "Excuse me, can you tell me anything about this cat doll?"

Cut to:

The lady owner behind her desk. She looks blank. Tikka the cat however has sat up and is looking towards Shizuku with interest.

Cut to:

Shizuku. She suddenly realises that in her excitement she has spoken Japanese.

Shizuku (in English): "Please. This doll…?"

Cut to:

The lady owner.

Lady owner (coming from behind her desk): "Yes, something you like?"

The lady walks over.

Cut to:

Shizuku to the right of shot, the cabinet in the centre. The lady owner enters the shot from the left.

Shizuku: "The cat doll. Um…"

Shizuku suddenly feels stupid, the only thing she can think of to ask that won't sound rude is:

Shizuku: "…is its name Luisa?"

Lady owner: "Good heavens, why do you ask that? That's my mother's name!"  
Shizuku (eyes widening even more): "Your mother's name is Luisa?"  
Lady owner (a little suspicious): "Yes, why do you say that name?"  
Shizuku (flustered and embarrassed, she turns pink): "Um… I know this doll... I mean…"  
Lady owner: "Young lady you are not making sense. This doll has belonged to my mother for years, it has never left this shop since – hmm, probably before you were born."  
Shizuku (bright pink now): "I'm sorry. This is going to sound rude. But your mother, did she live in Germany before the war?"

The lady is startled and puts a hand to her throat in a protective gesture, she almost recoils. The surprise on her face is so obvious she doesn't need to answer.

Lady owner: "Oh! Santa Maria, Si!" (in English) "How did you know that?"  
Shizuku (stumbling over the words, her English isn't good enough): "And your mother, when she was young, did she know a Japanese man? Before the war?"

The lady owner takes a step back. She nods, now her eyes are wide with surprise.

Shizuku: "Mr. Nishi, his name is Mr. Nishi."  
Lady owner: "Ahhh…"

Cut to:

A close up of the security TV screen. We see the lady crumple at the knees and begin to slide down. Shizuku reaches forward and catches her under the arms.

Shizuku (Japanese now): "Oh. Oh, no. Oh, somebody? Help!"

On the TV screen we see Shizuku take the fainted lady's weight and draw her toward the shop desk.

Cut to:

View of the desk. Shizuku comes into shot from the left assisting, half dragging the lady. She drags her to a chair behind the desk. The lady collapses into it. The cat jumps off the desk and runs out into the street. Shizuku looks around the back of the desk area, hoping to find an office perhaps.

Shizuku: "Hello? Hello? Er… help? Anyone here?"

She goes out of shot to the right.

Cut to:

View of the front of the shop from outside. Shizuku appears in the doorway and looks quickly to left and right. She's close to panic.

Shizuku: "Hello? Anyone?"

The cat is sat outside looking up at her. No-one answers. She disappears back inside.

Cut to:

The shop desk again. Shizuku comes back into shot. She's panicking now. Arms flapping. She walks a few steps one way quickly, then the other. She opens her bag and gets out a bottle of mineral water. Unscrewing the cap she tilts the bottle against the lady's mouth, wetting her lips.

Shizuku: "Oh, please, wake up!"

She looks around, puts the water on the desk and clasps her hands to her chest.

Shizuku (louder): "Hello! Anyone?"

She looks at the fainted lady, looks around one more time, guiltily.

Shizuku: "I'm sorry… I'm ever so sorry about this."

Then she slaps the lady's face. She quickly draws her hands back up to her throat in a guilty gesture. The woman coughs and groans and comes out of her faint. Shizuku bends down, reaches out to put her hands on the woman's shoulders but thinks better of it and draws back again.

Shizuku: "Hello? Are you alright? Here, try some water."

She picks up the bottle again and offers it to the lady. Groggily the lady takes the bottle and takes a sip. She looks at it a bit stupidly, she's the kind of lady who has probably never drunk from a bottle in her life.

Lady owner: "Oh… I'm sorry. What? What was that? Did I faint? I'm sorry."  
Shizuku: "It's OK. I'm sorry I think it was the shock."  
Lady owner: "Nishi… you said Nishi…?"  
Shizuku (quietly, still embarrassed): "Yes."  
Lady owner: "You _know_ Mr Nishi?"  
Shizuku (smiling): "Yes!"  
Lady owner (overcome): "My… my… Is… Is he alive?"  
Shizuku: "Yes! Yes, he's my boyfriend's grandfather!"  
Lady owner: "Grandfather?"  
Shizuku: "Uh huh."  
Lady owner: "Boyfriend?"  
Shizuku (puzzled): "Yes."  
Lady owner: "Oh, goodness. What will Luisa think when she hears this?"  
Shizuku: "Luisa?"  
Lady owner: "Not the doll!"  
Shizuku: "Pardon?"  
Lady owner (the effects of the faint linger): "Not the doll I said!"  
Shizuku: "No, not the doll…?"  
Lady owner: "My mother, Luisa. She's very old and quite ill. What will she think when she hears that her friend is alive?"  
Shizuku: "Is your mother in Germany still?"  
Lady owner: "Oh, no, no. She lives _here_, in Cremona. With my uncle."

Shizuku has conducted this conversation bent down, her face close to the lady's. She now stands up and a great light seems to shine on her face.

Shizuku (a wonderful smile spreads): "Mr. Nishi's childhood friend is alive and in Cremona? I can't believe it! I must tell Seiji!"  
Lady owner: "Who?"  
Shizuku: "Seiji. My boyfriend. Mr. Nishi's grandson. He's here in Cremona too, I'm staying with him. He makes violins."

This is all too much for the lady. She puts a hand to her heart and moans, then takes a deep swig from the water bottle.

Lady owner: "Oh my goodness. My dear, what is your name?"  
Shizuku: "Tsukishima. Shizuku Tsukishima. I live in Tokyo, I'm 15."  
Lady owner: "Oh, young lady. What news you bring! I'm sorry, oh, I'm so rude. My name is Anna-Marie, Anna-Marie Baroni, my mother is 78 now and she is confined to a wheelchair."  
Shizuku: "Oh. Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that. But Baroni, did you say?"  
Anna-Marie: "Yes. It comes from the German, it means a freeman, someone who isn't a serf, medieval I suppose."  
Shizuku: "Oh, not to do with Barons then?"  
Anna-Marie: "I have no idea. It might be though."  
Shizuku (thinking): "So your mother was born… mmm… in 1917?"  
Anna-Marie: "Correct."  
Shizuku: "And when the war started she would be 22, yes?"  
Anna-Marie: "That's right my dear. And she was so beautiful when she was young, so beautiful. Up there, that picture."

Anna-Marie points to an old photograph in a frame on the wall behind her.

Cut to:

The photograph. It shows a young lady sitting in a very old fashioned motor car, she wears a bonnet, a fussy blouse and a long skirt. She has dark hair and an oval face. She looks quite serious. She seems not much older than Shizuku is now. She is indeed an angel.

Cut to:

Shizuku looking at the picture.

Shizuku: "Oh, she's lovely."  
Anna-Marie: "Yes, she was."

Cut to:

Anna-Marie in her chair. Shizuku walks back and squats down before her so her face is on the same level.

Shizuku: "Can I ask… if it's not too rude… About the doll?"  
Anna-Marie: "Oh, my dear, what a sad story that is, the story of a family tragedy. It's amazing that we even have the doll. It's not for sale, none of the things in that cabinet are. They are kept there for safe keeping, and because my mother cannot bear to have them in the house, they hold such sad memories for her."


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Luisa's Story

**Chapter Fourteen – Luisa's Story**

FLASHBACK

We see a story from the past told in flashback. The colours are washed out and a sepia tone is laid over them, scenes fade into one another.

A steam train leaving the 22 year old Luisa at a station. Luisa entering a café and buying the cat doll. The young woman walking with a middle aged man and woman, two young boys are with them, its night, they carry suitcases and the man looks nervously over his shoulder. A white Jewish star of David on a blue background. The background burns and fades to reveal a Nazi swastika flag. War: German bombers. German tanks. Explosions. A houses collapsing under bombs.

Commentary by Anna-Marie over the top of the flashback scenes:

Anna-Marie (voice over): "My mother bought the doll from the café owner but very soon after that things became very difficult for her parents in Germany. You've noticed of course that I am a Jew. And you know all about what that meant for Jews living in Germany in the 1930s. One night a friend knocked on my grandfathers door. There were soldiers in the town, pulling people out of their beds in the middle of the night and putting them on lorries, taking them away. My mother and her family took what they could in a few bags and left at once. They travelled by night and slept under hedges in the day. They went south and eventually reached Switzerland. They were lucky. For years afterwards my mother would tell me again and again how lucky they were. The war started, the town was burned, nothing remained. The German army was defeated, the American army came."

FLASHBACK, the scenes fading one into another continue.

The middle aged man walking down a street of ruined buildings, he looks much older, thinner. The man picking up things from the rubble. Fade to: an Italian flag. A handsome Italian man in a suit and an old fashioned trilby hat. A big building with a line of old motor cars outside. A gravestone. A station name board reading CREMONA. The antique shop exterior as it was several years ago. An old lady in a wheelchair. The old lady holds the battered cat doll on her lap and weeps.

Commentary by Anna-Marie over the top of the flashback scenes:

Anna-Marie (voice over): "In 1945 my grandfather went back to southern Bavaria, the Arlberg region. There was nothing left. Nothing at all. The town was a ruin. He found a few things in the rubble of their lovely house. And he never went back. The cat doll was one of the few things that survived. My grandfather learned that there was a Jewish community in Torino. Germany was full of hatred and bitterness, the north of Italy had not been affected so much by the war and there were British troops there. So they went to Torino. Mother married the son of the owner of a car factory. My grandparents died in the 1960s. After the war my father's workshop couldn't build lorries fast enough, the whole country needed them. He made lots of money. He sold the car factory to a big company just after I was born. FIAT I think it was. My mother then fell ill and they retired and moved to Cremona. The air in Torino in those days was very dirty from the factories. Father said Cremona was cleaner. My mother bought this shop and it was something to keep her mind working as she grew older. But her illness got worse and I looked after the shop and have been here since – oh, the late 1980s. After father died mother went to live with her younger brother. She would sit in her chair in the evenings and tell me all about the war and her school days before the war, and the handsome Japanese student she met. How they fell in love but he had to leave. She would often hold the doll and cry. She believed Mr. Nishi had died in the war, Japan suffered as badly as Germany you know."


	16. Chapter Fifteen: AnnaMarie's Garden

**Chapter Fifteen – Anna-Marie's Garden**

Shizuku's hotel room balcony. She and Seiji lean on the railing. It's evening.

Shizuku: "And then I told Anna-Marie that your grandpa still had the Baron doll. That it was very precious to him and he still thought about Luisa, and dreamed of the two dolls being together again. She said we must come and visit her mother, she knew Luisa would love to meet Mr. Nishi's grandson."  
Seiji (shaking his head): "I can hardly believe this. It's amazing."

Cut to:

Later. Shizuku's bedroom. She is sat up in bed writing a letter, she rests her paper on a school textbook.

Cut to:

A close up of the letter. We can see that it's addressed to Mr. Nishi and Shizuku is telling him she has found Luisa, and the lady cat doll.

Cut to:

Next day. The front of Anna-Marie's antique shop. Shizuku enters the shot from the right. The door is closed and a note is stuck to the glass. Shizuku peers at the note.

Cut to:

A close up of the note. "To the young Japanese lady, sorry I have to go out – please wait around the back. I will be back as soon as I can. The red door".

Cut to:

A wooden red door at the downhill side of the shop. A hand comes into shot and turns the black cast iron handle.

Cut to:

A narrow passage, open to the sky beside the shop. Shizuku walks down it. The passage ends at a brick wall and there are a couple of rubbish bins there. Part way down on the left is another door. We see Shizuku look at it then try the handle.

Cut to:

Looking at the other side of the second door. It opens slowly. We see Shizuku's head peer cautiously round.

Cut to:

A view of a small garden. On a stone flagged patio stands a white painted metal table and chairs under a large sun shade. A jug of lemonade and some upturned glasses are on a tray. The small garden has flower beds and a couple of small fruit trees, a tiny circle of lawn. Beyond a high old brick wall is a view towards the river Po. The garden is a blaze of colour, filled with pretty flowers. Shizuku sits at the table and looks around. Moments later the grey-white tabby cat walks out from behind some flowers, sits in the sun on the patio and washes a paw.

Shizuku: "Hello Tikka. Where's your mummy gone then?"

Cut to:

Later. The shadows have lengthened. The passageway gate opens. Shizuku looks up at the sound. Anna-Marie enters. Shizuku stands.

Anna-Marie (in English): "Oh, you are here. That's good. I am sorry, my mother was unwell earlier and I took her to the doctor. I left her back at uncle's house, she wasn't well enough to come to the shop to see you. I'm sorry. If you can come again tomorrow afternoon I can take you to visit her at my uncles."  
Shizuku: "Can I come at about five o'clock? Seiji will have finished school then, I know he would like to meet Luisa as well."  
Anna-Marie: "Of course, as we said, if mother meets her old friend's grandson that would be so nice, don't you think?"  
Shizuku (making to leave): "Yes then. Goodbye, I'll be here again tomorrow at five."  
Anna-Marie: "Goodbye."


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Meeting Luisa

**Chapter Sixteen – Meeting Luisa  
**  
(Music: brisk cheerful violins)

There is no sound or dialogue in this sequence of scenes.

Seiji and Shizuku walking up the hill to the antique shop. They meet Anna-Marie outside where a car is standing. They all get in and drive off.

Cut to:

A modern bungalow in the suburbs. It could almost be anywhere. Here with modern housing developments the Italian style is being slowly lost and corrupted by the influence of a more general 'Euro' style of architecture. The car pulls up.

Cut to:

Anna-Marie, Seiji and Shizuku walking to the front door. Anna-Marie rings the bell. A grey haired man opens the door and welcomes them in. Seiji and Shizuku bow. The man smiles, he is about 65 and his once good looks have faded under wrinkles and excess weight.

The door closes and we are left looking at a peaceful scene of the bungalow and its garden. A butterfly drifts past.

Cut to:

The back garden of the bungalow. A patio is roofed in by wooden beams open to the sky. A vine is growing up the side of the house, and across the wooden structure giving cool shade to the patio. There is a wooden table and chairs. An ancient lady sits centre of shot in a wheelchair. She has snow white hair drawn back from her face and a blanket over her knees. Her skin is brown and wrinkled like leather. Her eyes are small and watery. Seiji and Shizuku come into shot, Anna-Marie a little to one side. Anna-Marie says something and the lady looks at the two teenagers. They step forward and bow low. A conversation follows. The elderly lady becomes quite animated and holds out her arms. Seiji and Shizuku step closer and each holds a hand. By the time Shizuku has finished speaking the old woman pulls Seiji to her and hugs him.

Cut to:

The same garden. Later. Anna-Marie's uncle is serving coffee and pastries. The group sits around the wooden table in the shade talking animatedly. There is laughter, Seiji stands and does an impression of playing a violin. The elderly lady claps her hands together on her chest in happiness.

Cut to:

Close up of Shizuku.

Shizuku: "Madam Baroni, there is something I want to ask you."

Cut to:

Luisa in her wheelchair.

Luisa: "Certainly my dear."

The camera cuts back and forth between the speakers.

Shizuku: "The doll in the shop… well, grandpa… that is, I mean, Mr. Nishi has talked to me about it in the past. It's something he has mentioned more than once… Umm… He has a fond dream of having the two dolls together again. I mean, would it be possible for me to buy the doll from you?"  
Luisa: "Buy the doll?"  
Shizuku: "Yes, but I'm sorry I don't have much money."  
Luisa: "My dear child, the doll is not for sale."  
Shizuku: "I see. I'm sorry."  
Luisa: "But she is yours."  
Shizuku: "I'm sorry?"  
Luisa: "The doll is yours. I'm giving her to you."  
Anna-Marie: "Mother!"  
Luisa: "Don't you 'mother' me with that tone Anna, the doll only hurts me now, it holds nothing but bad memories. I am going to let Shizuku send it to Shirou. He will get much more from it than I ever will now."  
Anna-Marie: "But..."  
Luisa: "Don't you 'but' me, either, you've been 'butting' me for far too long now. This is my decision. I'm old but I'm not senile yet."  
Shizuku: "Thank you, thank you, Mr. Nishi will be overjoyed."  
Luisa: "There's one condition, child."  
Shizuku: "Yes?"  
Luisa: "Shirou is a craftsman you say? A restorer of antiques?"  
Shizuku: "Yes, he is very skilled. I saw an old clock once that he had repaired. It was like new."  
Luisa: "Then you can have the doll and send it to Shirou on the condition he repairs it and makes it like new, so it and the Baron doll can be together properly."  
Shizuku: "Of course! Of course! I'm sure that's what he would want too."  
Luisa: "Good, that's settled then. Anna, when you go back to the shop, please give Shizuku the doll."


	18. Chapter Seventeen: The Cat Returns

**Chapter Seventeen – The Cat Returns**

Shizuku's hotel room. She is packing the doll. Seiji sits on her bed watching, he seems to be troubled by something, makes as though to speak then changes his mind.

Cut to:

Exterior view of the Earth Shop front. Night time.

Cut to:

The interior. Mr. Nishi's sitting room beside the shop. We see him unpacking a large box. He carefully turns aside layers of tissue paper. He pauses, then with great care reaches in and lifts out the battered cat doll. His old eyes widen in shock and tears spill down his face. We see him walk over to his round table where the Baron is standing. Mr. Nishi introduces the cat doll to the Baron. Then we see him suddenly put his hand to his chest, step backward and sit heavily in a chair.


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Seiji's Strength

**Chapter Eighteen – Seiji's Strength**

Nearly two weeks go by.

Late afternoon. The courtyard. Shizuku is sitting on the hotel steps. Seiji comes out of the school, some other students also, he raises a hand to them, we hear cheerful teenager goodbyes and they turn and head up the alley. Seiji crosses to Shizuku who stands.

Seiji: "Yo."  
Shizuku: "Hi."  
Seiji: "Hey, I've got great news. Listen. The school is doing really well, Signore Guarnieri is really pleased with our progress. And because he's happy with our work he's arranged a day holiday for us all. Tomorrow."  
Shizuku: "Yay, that's great!"  
Seiji: "And not just that, we're going to the seaside!"  
Shizuku: "Oooh, where?"  
Seiji: "Ah, that would be telling! Pack your swimming things!"  
Shizuku: "I hate surprises! Tell me!"  
Seiji: "Nope. But if you wanted to see some Italian history, now's your chance." (he winks mischievously).

Cut to several linked scenes:

A train at Cremona station, Seiji and Shizuku board. Other students are with them. The train pulls out of the station; The train interior. This carriage has open seating, not old-style compartments. Seiji, Shizuku and some of Seiji's student friends are in shot. They chatter animatedly. The train is moving slow, stopping. A station name board comes slowly into view outside the window. It reads VENEZIA. Shizuku sees it, she turns to Seiji.

Shizuku: "Venice! You brought us to Venice! Oh, Seiji, that's fantastic! Do you know how amazing this city is? The whole place is like a fairy tale city, built on the water!"  
Seiji: "Hey, it wasn't my choice, Signore Guarnieri paid for the tickets."  
Shizuku: "Today is going to be so special, I know it!"  
Seiji: "Yeah, when I found out I knew you'd be pleased."

Cut to more scenes that flow and link together:

A scene of the students boarding a river bus on the canal outside the station; The river bus travelling down the Grand Canal. Magnificent waterside buildings slide by, the canal is busy with small boats; Shizuku and Seiji leaning on the side railing of the river bus. Their faces glow with excitement; The river bus heading out across the lagoon of Venice towards the Lido; A shot of the river bus docking at the Lido pier. Hotels and bars can be seen along the Lido water front. The place is crowded with tourists; Shizuku and Seiji at a café. They are eating pizza; The Lido beach. Many people bathing in the sea; Shizuku and Seiji on the beach in swimming costume. They are in the sea, standing with the water up to their knees. They splash one another and laugh. Seiji runs at Shizuku and she runs away squealing. He catches her and they fall together in the water laughing; The two of them on towels on the sand, lying on their sides facing each other; A close up of their faces. Seiji lifts a hand and tenderly puts it on Shizuku's cheek. She smiles; Later in the day. Another river bus departing the Lido and heading out to Venice proper; Shizuku at the river bus' railing. The San Marco bell tower and the domes of the Doge's Palace in the distance. She watches the scene in awe.

Cut to:

The couple walking up a wide pavement thronged with tourists, the Grand Canal is to their left and gondolieri stand by the small piers in their famous striped shirts. Rows of gondolas are moored to their poles. To the couple's right is the Piazza di San Marco, they turn right and walk in.

Cut to:

A view of the Piazza di San Marco, crowds everywhere. Seiji and Shizuku stand and marvel at the buildings. Seiji gets out a camera and takes photos.

Cut to:

Shizuku standing in front of the Doge's Palace. Seiji is taking a picture of her. Shizuku steps back and leans against a stone pillar at one side of the doorway. She is wearing a short sleeved top and the bare skin of her arm touches the stone. She starts in surprise and stands upright, rubbing her arm. She looks about herself in wonder and something like fear. Seiji presses the shutter of the camera.

Seiji: "Ah, you moved. I'll take another. Smile."

Cut to:

Close up of Shizuku. She still rubs her arm and looks worried. She looks about herself as if to be sure she is where she thinks she is.

Cut to:

Seiji (lowering the camera from his eye): "You OK?"

Cut to:

Shizuku, close up, still rubbing her skin as though it's sore.

Shizuku: "Yes, I think so."  
Seiji: "What was it, something cut you?"  
Shizuku: "No. I don't know. Can we go and sit down somewhere?"  
Seiji: "Sure, these crowds are bugging me a bit too. Lets find somewhere quiet."

Cut to:

A café in a narrower side lane. The couple sit at a table in the shade of a striped awning. Two ice creams are on the table in glass bowls. There are a few moments silence.

Seiji (gently): "Talk to me."  
Shizuku: "Seiji, I'm scared, something odd is going on."  
Seiji: "Do you want to talk about it?"  
Shizuku: "I think so."

She takes a spoonful of ice cream. She draws the ice cream off the spoon with her lips and swallows absently as though she doesn't taste it at all.

Shizuku: "In the taxi. In Milan. I don't understand what happened."

Cut to Seiji's face. He says nothing. This is a time to be silent and let her speak.

Cut to:

Shizuku: "It was night time. And yet when I looked out on that bridge I saw a scene in daylight. It wasn't my imagination. I was there. It was so weird, I can't describe it. It was like… like an opening in time and I could see through it, just for a few moments. I saw a factory and a canal as they were, oh, sixty years ago. Before the war anyway. I can even remember the name painted on one of the factories. I was looking at the scene as it was in the past."

Cut to Seiji. He looks at her carefully.

Shizuku (off camera): "How can that happen? I've never heard of such a thing before."  
Seiji: "You said something just before that, something about you'd been there before."

Cut to:

Shizuku: "Yes, that's right. Just before I had that… vision… or whatever it was… I had this weird feeling. Like I knew the place, I knew the bridge was up ahead. It was like the strongest déjà vu I have ever felt. I just can't understand it."  
Seiji: "What happened just now?"  
Shizuku: "The same thing, only worse, much worse. When I touched the building. I was suddenly in Saint Marks square but it was long ago, I mean _hundreds and hundreds_ of years ago. There were crowds of people…"

While she is talking the close up of her face zooms slowly out. Her eyes widen with surprise. We continue to zoom out and we see behind her people in sixteenth century dress.

Cut to:

A view of what she sees. Crowds fill both sides of the piazza. This is very long ago, renaissance times. The same buildings are around the piazza as today but there are no boutiques, no tourist information stand, no cafés. Down the centre of the crowd is a clear space, this avenue is formed by two lines of soldiers standing at attention with large halberds held upright. The soldiers wear steel skull caps, blue and red tabards, the coloured panels cut in a checkerboard fashion. They have steel guards on their forearms and wear tight soft leather gloves. They wear red hose and soft boots. They face inwards, the thronging crowds behind them. The townspeople wear medieval dress, ladies in long skirts with tight bodices and tall conical caps with veils. Men with big beards wearing padded jackets with slashed sleeves that trail low, puffed up padded cloth at the hips and hose of coloured silk. The citizens are all well dressed, it seems the lower classes, the unwashed, have been kept away from this event.

Cut to:

Two soldiers with townsfolk behind them. In the front row between them stands Shizuku, in her normal clothes. She is next to the Doges Palace.

Cut to:

A view from behind her looking at the palace steps and doorway. In front of the doorway stand a group of men. Their clothing is very fine, they wear silks, jewels and furs. Among them are bishops and cardinals. One prominent nobleman wears a peculiar white conical hat almost like an Egyptian headdress. He has a pale face and long hooked nose. He does not look happy. The men face down the avenue, waiting.

Cut to:

A group of people walking up the cleared aisle. At their head is an imposing man richly dressed in green velvet and wearing a crown. His right arm is held out and a tall elegant lady rests her hand on his arm. Behind the royal couple a gaggle of other richly dressed courtiers and advisors follow. Before them walk three men dressed in yellow and blue, they carry ceremonial trumpets.

Cut to:

Shizuku's face again. She idly spoons ice cream into her mouth.

Shizuku: "What scared me is that I stood there about ten minutes and watched the scene. The man in the white hat was the Doge of Venice; the king was the Holy Roman Emperor, a German. It was a very important state visit. There was war coming, the crowd knew it. I could _feel_ it. Seiji – I even _heard_ their conversation! I was so afraid, I thought a soldier would notice me, that I wasn't dressed properly and he'd grab me. Then suddenly I was back among tourists again."  
Seiji: "Did you say ten minutes?"  
Shizuku: "Yes, well it seemed like that."

Cut to:

Seiji (deeply worried): "You never went anywhere. You just leaned against the building and stood up again rubbing your arm. It was the blink of the eye."

Cut to:

Shizuku (puts her face in her hands): "I was so scared."  
Seiji: "Don't be. It's OK now, you're here – I'm here."  
Shizuku: "It frightens me Seiji. I don't know if it'll happen again. What if I touch an old building and never come back?"

Cut to:

Seiji: "I think it's your imagination, you aren't really travelling in time, you were here all along, you didn't vanish in a puff of smoke…"

Cut to:

Shizuku (raising her voice): "Don't make fun of me! I was scared to death!"  
Seiji: "Sorry, I'm trying to help. What I mean is, you shouldn't be afraid, nothing will harm you."  
Shizuku: "I hate it. I don't like it happening. It's not the real me."

Cut to:

Seiji's face. Some memory comes to him and something dawns in his eyes.

Seiji: "I said that once: 'It's not the real me'"  
Shizuku: "What?"  
Seiji (slowly, deep in thought): "My first violin. I was ten."

Cut to:

Shizuku's face. She looks at Seiji, her eyes are wet.

The view cuts to a side view of the couple at the table:

Seiji: "I had just finished it," (he frowns) "It was rubbish. I tried to play it but it sounded terrible. I cried and cried. All that work was a waste of time. I felt useless." (he sighs) "Grandpa was with me. He took the violin and adjusted the stringing. Then he laid his bow across it and made a note come out. It was such a beautiful note. Like a bird singing. I couldn't believe the terrible violin I'd made could produce such a sound. Grandpa looked at me in the way he does. You know, so kind and patient? He said he had never before seen a violin so well made by someone so young. He said people sometimes have something mysterious inside them, some power. Many people go through their whole lives searching for something – money, success, love and they don't realise that the power to be what they want to be is inside them. They never find it and then they die unfulfilled. Grandpa said I had something inside, some skill that comes from he didn't know where. He said the crafting of that violin wasn't done by the hands of a ten year old." (Seiji smiles and shakes his head) "You know what I said? I said 'Well I don't like it – it's not the real me.' It was a funny conversation."  
Shizuku (smiling): "Your grandfather spoke to me once like that. Last year…" (she smiles at the irony) "…it was while you were here actually. I was worried about how badly my writing would turn out and he went into this long speech about looking inside myself and finding the gems of my writing ability and spending time polishing them."  
Seiji: "Sounds just like grandpa."  
Shizuku: "That rock on my bedside cabinet in the hotel. You know that big old lump you noticed the other day? He gave me that. If you look in it you'll see there is a quartzite inside. He did this thing with a torch that lit the rock up inside. Made a big impression on me that did. He said the gemstones inside the rock are like the writing skills inside me. They are in there but it would be hard to find them and dig them out. And make them shine."  
Seiji: "He can be like that. I can spend days and days with him and he's just an ordinary old man then one day – bang! He'll come out with something amazing! Something that makes you stop and think and really consider things. You know, consider the world around you in a different way."  
Shizuku: "He's a strange person, like two people really. He hasn't spoken to you about his time in Germany before the war has he? About when he met Luisa?"  
Seiji: "No, he never mentioned anything like that."  
Shizuku: "And he's known you all your life. Yet he confided that story to me and we'd only met a few times. Strange – like two different people."  
Seiji: "That night in the taxi in Milan, I think the power grandpa spoke to me about… I think you have something special in your mind, in your imagination. A power – uh - an ability. I don't know. Is it in the brain or in the spirit? But you seem to have something spiritual, other worldly, something ancient in you that lets you see places like no-one else can, lets you see through time even. Or what feels like seeing through time. Mmm, I'm not saying this very well, am I?"  
Shizuku: "Go on. I'm following you."  
Seiji: "If you can harness that ability then there is no stopping you in the amazing books you can write."  
Shizuku: "Do you think so?"  
Seiji: "How else can you explain it? It wasn't time travel – you never moved! Don't be afraid. Learn to use that instinct. Hey, that toy plane we saw…"  
Shizuku: "It wasn't a toy, remember?"  
Seiji: "Ah, well, you know," (he smiles a smile of defeat on that point). "Well that was built before the war wasn't it? Maybe the factory you saw built planes like that one. There's a story in there you know."  
Shizuku (thinking): "Hm... I wonder what sort of pilot flew a plane like that? What kind of man was he?"

She eats another spoonful of ice cream.

Cut to:

A sequence of scenes of the two of them in Venice. The scenes fade in and out: Walking up the steps of the Rialto Bridge looking in the stalls there; looking in shop windows full of beautiful glass; standing on a small curved bridge and leaning on its parapet watching gondolas gliding beneath; standing looking along a canal, the Bridge of Sighs is before them. We hold on this last scene for a moment. It's late in the afternoon and there is a golden quality to the light. Shizuku looks down, watching the light play on the water.

Cut to:

Behind the couple, our point of view has the Bridge of Sighs in the background. Seiji looks at Shizuku. We see the back of her head, her face is still downcast.

Seiji (softly): "Hey."

Shizuku lifts her head to look at him. We see her profile.

Seiji: "Think about what I said. Don't fear it, face it. It's no curse. Treat it as a blessing."  
Shizuku: "I'll try. It's just the strangeness of it that knocks the wind out of me. I've never heard of anything like this before."  
Seiji (turning to her): "Come here."

Shizuku goes to him. He holds her.

Seiji: "That's because you're special. If the wind blows too hard, lean on me. You'll always have me."  
Shizuku (looking up at him): "Seiji Amasawa… I love you."  
Seiji (so softly he almost mouths it silently): "I love you, Shizuku."

Seiji lowers his head, slowly, slowly. Shizuku tilts hers back a little and closes her eyes. With infinite slowness, Seiji's face comes closer to her upturned face. The camera view pans upward to the Bridge of Sighs above and beyond them.

Fade.


	20. Chapter Nineteen: The Telephone Call

**Chapter Nineteen – The Telephone Call**

Evening. A view at ground level of a railway track. A passenger train suddenly roars by, the wheels clickety-clack, the stone ballast chippings on the track jump and clatter as it passes.

Cut to:

Interior of the train. Seiji and Shizuku are tired. Shizuku is dozing and cuddled up to him. Seiji wears his fretful face and stares out the window, worrying away at some problem. We see his face reflected in the glass.

Cut to:

An outside shot of Seiji's face looking at the passing countryside blankly. The train is moving a little faster than the camera that's tracking the shot and Seiji's face at the window moves more and more to the right of frame and the angle of view becomes more acute until we can no longer see him and the train draws past us. The camera slows to a trackside position watching the train recede into the distance. It has a red flashing lamp on the rear coach. It disappears into the evening twilight. The sky is growing dark. Apart from the chirping of cicadas, all is quiet and still. Then on the far side of the track there is movement. A fox appears through some long grasses at the trackside fence. It stops and sniffs the air. Then looking around it runs across the tracks stepping nimbly over the rails. It vanishes into the bushes on the near side.

Cut to:

Inside the train. Night. The train rattles along. Outside the window a huge red harvest moon has risen over the misty fields. Seiji watches it, frowning.

Seiji: "What are you? A guiding light, a lantern leading me on, or something else? Some other force I don't understand?"

Cut to:

The courtyard back in Cremona. Seiji and Shizuku are saying goodnight to the other students, who go in the school. The couple wait until the others have gone. Before they can say their goodnights, the school door opens again. The old caretaker, Signore Fabrizio is there.

Fabrizio: "Signorino Amasawa?"  
Seiji: "Si?"  
Fabrizio: "Presto, c'è una telefonata per voi, è vostro padre, il Signor Amasawa."  
Seiji: "Grazie, grazie." (he turns to Shizuku) "My father phoned earlier, I should call him back."  
Shizuku: "Oh." (she looks fearful. Telephone calls at this distance when Seiji would be home soon anyway – they can never be good news).

Cut to:

The hallway of the violin school. It's a magnificent place, all polished stone floors and dark wood panelling. On a small table at the foot of a staircase is an old style black telephone with a dial, not buttons. Signore Fabrizio offers Seiji the phone. Seiji picks up the handset, thinks a moment about the international code for Japan, then dials. He's not familiar with dial phones and messes it up. He puts the receiver down and redials. Fabrizio may be a bit mad but at least he's a true gentleman. He retires to another room out of earshot. Shizuku comes close to Seiji, worried.

Seiji: "Hello? Yes, hello, father? It's Seiji."

We hear a man's voice, tinny with distance.

Seiji: "When?"

Seiji puts one hand on the banister at the foot of the staircase, he seems to lean into it for support. We hear the tinny voice again.

Seiji: "Well, how is he?"

More voice. Seiji turns and sits down heavily on the bottom stair. Shizuku comes up and squats before him. She puts a hand on his knee and gazes up into his face.

Seiji (his voice has taken on an odd wavering tone): "I think I should come straight home. Yes? Yes, I'll come. Tomorrow – or as soon as I can get a plane seat. Alright, yes. Thank you, thank you." (he looks at Shizuku) "Yes, I think two seats. Can you arrange that for us? Thanks. How is mother? OK, well, yes. I'll be there as soon as I can."

A pause.

Seiji: "Dad? If anything happens, you know, if there is more… news… you'll phone me straight away, yes? Look, take this number…" (Seiji gives a phone number) "…yes that's the Japan Airlines desk at Milan airport. Phone there if I have left, they should be able to get a message to me. OK, dad, yes, sure, I understand. Goodbye."

Seiji puts down the phone. Shizuku looks at him more worried than ever. Seiji slowly puts his elbows on his knees, and rests his forehead in his hands. He slides his fingers up through his hair. Shizuku gets up and sits next to him on the stair, she puts an arm around him. There is a long moment of silence.

Seiji (talking down to the floor): "It's grandpa. He's collapsed. A heart attack. He's really ill. I have to leave for home right away."

Shizuku puts her other arm around the boy and holds him. Silently, his shoulders begin to shake. Shizuku holds on tight.


	21. Chapter Twenty: Push and Pull

**Chapter Twenty – Push and Pull**

The reception area of the Hotel Alfonso. In the dining room next door we can see guests finishing their meals. Marco is waiting at tables. A clock above reception shows 10:20. Tony is behind the desk, he leans on it looking concerned. Shizuku stands before the desk. She is speaking into a telephone. She runs her fingers through her hair nervously.

Shizuku: "Hello? Hello, Anna-Marie? It's Shizuku. I'm very sorry. Yes it is late, I'm sorry. There has been bad news, its Mr. Nishi back in Japan, he has been taken ill. Very ill. Yes. No. Yes that's right. In a hospital, yes. Yes, we are going right away. Tomorrow. I'm afraid so. But… look, I don't know how to best say this, so I will just say it – can you come? Can you bring your mother? I know she is ill but I'm so afraid. I'm scared that this may be their last chance to meet." (tears run down her face as she talks) "Yes I know, I know, I'm so sorry. But it has to be tomorrow. Yes, have you a pen? OK. Its Japan Airlines flight JL418 from Milano Linate airport to Tokyo Narita. It takes off at 9:20 in the evening. Here is the number of the Japan Airlines check-in…" (she gives the number) "Please say you are flying with Mr Amasawa and Miss Tsukishima, you should be able to get seats with us. Well, that's it. No, I'm OK. Really. I hope we see you at the airport? Goodbye."

She places the phone down and stares at it. The tears continue to run.

Shizuku (quietly to herself): "Oh grandpa, please be alright."

The scene shifts and changes, the shadows fade. The clock hands still show 10:20. The same view but now it's morning. Sunlight throws bright light where before there were shadows. Shizuku stands before the desk. As usual Tony fills the space behind. Shizuku signs a form.

Shizuku: "Signore Tony, grazie, molte grazie."  
Tony: "She-zoo-koo. It is not Mr. Tony, eh? Just 'Tony', eh?"  
Shizuku: "Thank you, Tony. I loved it here. It was a lovely room. And you are so kind. I will come again."  
Tony: "Ha! I wait for you. And for you She-zoo-koo, is no problem, eh?"

There is a loud noise and down the stairs clumping and grunting comes Marco. He's in his waiters clothes and he brings Shizuku's huge bag down. He drags it to the centre of the reception floor. Shizuku opens her purse, finds some money. This time it is paper money, several notes.

Shizuku (giving Marco the tip): "Marco, grazie. Va bene così?"

Marco looks at the notes in his hand. He looks up at Shizuku, gives her a curt nod and a grunt. He goes bright pink and disappears quickly through the PRIVATO door. Tony bursts into laughter.

Tony (laughing): "Ehi, Marco! Ti vuole bene!" (to Shizuku) "Hey, he nodded. He likes you!"  
Shizuku: "Tony, I must go. Arrivederci!"  
Tony (still smiling, he comes round from behind the desk and opens the door): "Arrivederci, cara Signorina."

He bows, Shizuku bows in return. Tony reaches for her hand, he lifts it and kisses the back of it.

Tony: "Be in good care now."

Cut to:

The courtyard. A taxi stands by the horse trough. It's a surprise it even fitted down the alleyway. Seiji is beside it. He is speaking with a distinguished silver haired gentleman. As Shizuku comes out of the hotel, Seiji and the man shake hands and the man walks to the school.

Shizuku: "Well, here I am. All ready."  
Seiji: "Hi. OK, well, I suppose we'd better go."

The driver squeezes her big bag into the small car. Seiji takes one final look at the school.

Seiji (troubled, to himself): "Every time I come to Cremona, I leave a day early."

Cut to:

The taxi driving slowly up the alleyway. It just fits between the buildings.

Cut to:

The taxi interior looking back at Seiji and Shizuku in the back seat. Shizuku turns to look out the rear window, we just see the courtyard disappearing.

Shizuku: "Goodbye. I _will_ come back."  
Seiji (turns to her): "Yes, you'll come back. I'll make sure of it."

Cut to:

The taxi driving along a main road passing fields, farms and woodland. We see Seiji's face gazing out a window.

Cut to:

The taxi entering a city. We follow its route through several streets and it pulls up at the airport building. Shizuku and Seiji get out, Seiji pays the driver.

Cut to:

Seiji and Shizuku sitting in the departure lounge. They both just sit. And sit. Too worried to eat or read, they each turn over their thoughts in their head. Into shot comes a lady pushing a silver haired old woman in a wheelchair. Seiji sees them and stands up. He holds Luisa's hand. Shizuku jumps up. Anna-Marie comes to her and gives her a hug.

Cut to:

A Japan Airlines 747 taking off.

Cut to:

A view of the passenger cabin. The four of them are sat in the centre block of four seats, as Luisa is disabled they sit in a row where there is a transverse aisle so that the elderly lady has plenty of room. Seiji is on one end of the row, Shizuku beside him, Luisa beside her and Anna-Marie at the end. Shizuku holds Luisa's hand.

Cut to:

(Music: Trash80 "Faces of a Fashion" a gentle piano solo)

An exterior view of the 747. It is night. There is an almost full moon, huge and silver, in its cold light the plane seems to glow like precious metal. Far below, the clouds are like dreams. The milky way, far brighter and clearer than seen from near any city, lays across the sky like a million diamonds. As the piano music plays we watch the jet carrying its precious cargo. Hundreds of lives. Hundreds of lifetimes.

Cut to:

(Music continues)

The cabin interior. The lights have been dimmed. The camera tracks up several rows of seats. Most passengers are sleeping, one or two read or listen to music on headphones. A couple of workaholic men are tapping away at laptops; their faces, lit by the blue-white screen light, look like men already dead. The view tracks up the aisle to Anna-Marie. She is under a blanket. The camera now tracks left. Next to her Luisa has a magazine open on her lap but her head has lain to one side and she dozes, a pair of reading glasses on the end of her nose. Next we see Shizuku, curled to her right facing Seiji who is curled up to his left. Their heads are close together. Their faces just inches apart. Seiji is talking in a low monotone.

(Music fades low)

Seiji: "…and that was his problem. Baseball, baseball, always baseball. He never seemed to notice his friends dropping away one by one. It was crazy. I don't see him anymore. He still lives two streets away but he might as well be on Mars."

He sighs and is silent for a while.

Seiji: "I remember a Monday at school early last September. I think it was the fifth. Yes, that's right, Monday the fifth. Green Town Field Junior High. You remember?"

Shizuku looks into his eyes. She says nothing.

Seiji: "You passed me in the corridor with your friend. Which friend was it?"  
Shizuku: "Yuko."  
Seiji: "Yuko, yes it was Yuko." (he smiles, recalling the memory, tasting it, turning it over in his mind) "I knew you were looking at me. You looked like you could've killed me. I said nothing, I didn't even look you in the eye."  
Shizuku: "I remember. I was so mad at you. You made fun of my song lyrics."  
Seiji: "That was it, yes. Hm. Seems years ago doesn't it? Do you know why I said nothing, and didn't look at you?"

A very close view of Shizuku's face. She asks the question with her eyes.

Seiji: "I was with my father."  
Shizuku (her eyes widen a little): "That man was your father?"  
Seiji: "Yes, he came to the school to discuss my taking two months off to come to Italy. He didn't want me to go at all. He was in a foul mood that day. So, you see, how could I even look at you? You might have said something, then I would have had to introduce you and in the horrible mood he was in there was no way I wanted to risk another argument."  
Shizuku: "That bad huh?"  
Seiji: "Mm, that bad. Shizuku, how do you get on with your dad?"  
Shizuku: "OK. He's pretty strict, and he always lets me know who is in charge but he's very fair too. I talk to him all the time about things. I have lunch with him in the library some days."  
Seiji: "That must be great."  
Shizuku: "Yeah, he's pretty cool."  
Seiji: "I hate father."

Shizuku's eyes again. Wide with surprise.

Shizuku: "Seiji! You can't mean that!"  
Seiji: "Can't I? You're not his son. He's a selfish, manipulating, driven, domineering…" (he tails off, his jaw set in anger) "We argue all the time. I hate him."

Shizuku looks afraid. She covers her open mouth with one hand.

Cut to:

A close up of Luisa's face. Her eyes are open. She is listening.

Cut to:

Seiji: "Amasawa Electronics. His company makes computer components, all sorts of stuff."

Seiji sits up a little, unfolds his legs, pulls his wallet out of a back pocket, flips it open and retrieves a photo. He curls up again.

Seiji: "Here. He's in the middle, huh… that's predictable. Mom on the left, my brother Kouji on the right. I'm the one at the back. You see, the one who looks like he'd rather be somewhere else."

Shizuku studies the picture. We see the family in the front garden of a house, a driveway and cars behind them.

Shizuku: "Is this your house?"  
Seiji: "Uh-huh."  
Shizuku: "Wow, it's _huge_. _How_ many cars?"  
Seiji: "I couldn't care less how many. It's a very successful company. He sells to big factories, hospitals and so on. Computer networks and such like. I'm not really interested. Ever since I can remember Kouji and I have just been tools in his toolbox. He groomed us to take over from him, when he retires he wants us to manage the company. I think he plans stuff all the time. My name… the Kanji character means 'Holy Governor', he even planned for me to be a leader the day he named me. I hate him for that." (Seiji chuckles) "Then one day Kouji really messed things up."

Seiji slips the photo back in his wallet and returns it to his jeans pocket.

Seiji: "He became a dropout. Boy, was that a shock. He's a great photographer, very good. He's had pictures published in magazines. He finished high school and took a year out before going on to university. He went to Thailand with some friends. Heh, well these friends turned out to be a bunch of hippies, they did drugs and all kinds of stuff. Kouji got mixed up in it bad. He got a girl pregnant. Dad of course went mental, he went off like a bomb. Life was impossible for weeks. I actually moved in with grandpa for about a month. Eventually things cooled off a bit but it seemed Kouji liked it out there. Last I heard he opened a photographic studio in Bangkok and does wildlife photography. Doing well now, he even takes tourists on photographic tours. He's over the hippy thing but he's not coming back. No university. No el-presidente of Amasawa Electronics. Bye, bye and goodnight."  
Shizuku: "Oh, Seiji, that means…"  
Seiji: "Yeah, now I'm dad's number one target for him to put pressure on. Shizuku, I hate it at home, I don't have a proper life, its nag, nag, nag, study, study, study _all_ the time. I'm trapped in a prison. I'm going crazy. My face may look calm, I may look relaxed but inside…" (he growls in frustration, his hand becomes a fist).

Shizuku reaches out and covers the fist with her hand.

Seiji: "Did you ever wonder why I always seem to be at grandpa's shop? I spend as much time there as I can. I've been going there for years, as soon as I was old enough to go out alone on my bike. Since I was about six I think. I sleep there when I can. Some days I used to just sit and watch him work. I loved that, seeing his hands do amazing things, I could watch him for hours. Broken old furniture would be transformed. Heh, you think it's magic me making a violin pop out of a piece of wood? Well you should see grandpa do his stuff. Furniture comes to him as little more than firewood. Six months later it's beautiful, like the day the original craftsman made it."

FLASHBACK

We see a very young Seiji, seven or eight years old watching Mr. Nishi working. The boy is entranced.

Seiji: "Hence the violin making. Grandpa has held violin making classes for years. One day when I was about nine I decided to try it. Took me the best part of a year to finish my first one and, well, you know that story already."  
Shizuku: "Oh, my poor Seiji… why did you keep all this in?"  
Seiji: "And that's why the apprenticeship trip last year was so important to me. I was escaping. I was free of his tyranny for eight glorious weeks. I was like a zoo animal taken back to the wild and set free. I have never produced such good work as I did those two months in Cremona last year."

He pauses and looks through Shizuku to some distant place. His eyes narrow and self-loathing fills his face.

Seiji: "And of course that's the problem. I came back from Italy and thought about stuff for ages, turning it over and over in my head. Looking at it this way and that way. And no matter which way I looked at it, it always looked the same. And last night on the way back from Venice I worked it out. The violin making isn't me doing something I want to do. It's me doing something so I can avoid doing something else I _don't_ want to do. Violin making isn't pulling me Shizuku, it's hatred of dad that's _pushing_ me. I'm not a great violin maker. I'm not even good. I stink. What I am good at is running away from dad, running away from my responsibilities. Hell, just running away."  
Shizuku: "Seiji, oh, Seiji, don't."  
Seiji: "I can't do something if my love of it isn't pure and honest and genuine. Violin making is a sham, a cover, a lie. I realise now that it's not something I chose to do but something I was pushed into doing as a means to escape my father. I hate it for what it represents. I'm going to give it up."  
Shizuku (sitting up and taking his hand in hers): "Stop it! Stop it! You don't know what you're saying!"  
Seiji: "Yes I do Shizuku. I've thought about this for a long time."  
Shizuku (puts her hands on his shoulders and actually shakes him): "Seiji Amasawa, don't you ever, ever dare talk like that! I don't want to hear it! You're talking complete rubbish. Aah! You make me so angry! Its plain as the nose on you face that you've got great skill and even more potential as a violin maker! Seiji - remember I was the one always following you, you were one step ahead. I looked up to you so much. You inspired me. Violin making is a fine craft and something you were made to do. Remember that day you met me outside the shop with Moon? You took me in to see the Baron. Afterwards I came downstairs…"

Her voice trails off. We see that her eyes are wet.

Shizuku (quieter now, gentle): "I saw you working. I watched your hands making the violin. I could see the skill." (she laughs, really its half laugh-half sigh) "Even though I didn't even know your name or anything about you I think I fell in love with you at that moment."

She laughs again, a little embarrassed. Shizuku leans forward, slides her hands from his shoulders down his back and draws him up to her. She holds him against her chest and he lowers his face into her. She strokes his hair.

Shizuku: "…and watching you working… it was your hands I fell in love with first. How you were drawn to that craft isn't important, what _is_ important is your skill and your commitment to it. Be true to yourself, don't let go of something – don't let yourself hate it just because you see it as something driven by your war against your father. You think it's him that's driven you to violin making? Do you? You can't live under his shadow all your life. He can't be allowed to affect your every life-decision. So don't give up just because you detect his hand in it, don't you see? You're letting him manipulate your decisions even now. Seiji, you're strong and skilful, use those gifts for the purpose they were given you. It's nothing to do with your father. Oh, how can I make you see this? You said so yourself in Venice. Grandpa saw it in you years ago. What he saw wasn't hatred of your father, it was something else completely. Grandpa saw the real you, didn't he? Didn't he? Even then, when you were ten, you denied it. Stop running away, Seiji."

Cut to: Luisa, her eyes open. Her heart must be pounding. We cut to a view of Shizuku's back. She's kneeling up now in her seat, facing Seiji. Seiji's hands come around her, move slowly up her back and hold her in return. His fingers dig into her and he holds on tight, squeezing. We cut to a close up of his face buried in her shirt. His eyes are tight shut. Cut to Shizuku's face. Her eyes too are shut and we see a tear squeeze out from under her eyelids.

Cut to:

Shizuku's father. He's in her bedroom. He speaks of time and the importance of each day, each hour, each moment.

Cut to:

Shizuku (her eyes open, talking through her tears): "Oh. Something… Yes, my dad said something to me the day we left Tokyo. About the value of time and grasping the moment. I think… I understand now what he meant. This is one of those times Seiji, one of those passing moments that are really, really important. Please… hold onto this moment, remember what I said."

She's crying openly now.

Shizuku: "Oh, I'm no good at this, look at me. Crying like a baby. I can't guide you…"  
Seiji: "A guiding light."  
Shizuku: "What?"  
Seiji: "It doesn't matter." (he holds on tight)

He pulls his face away from her. She looks down at him, her tears fall from her face onto his.

Cut to:

Luisa. She smiles and closes her eyes.


	22. Chapter Twenty One: Youre Always Leaving

**Chapter Twenty One – "You're always leaving"**

The plane landing, it's daylight but gloomy. The clouds are flat, the colour of lead. It's raining heavily, pouring down.

Cut to:

Tokyo airport. Outside beyond the glass walls rain falls like a monsoon. Anna-Marie pushes Luisa in her wheelchair. In the arrivals area they meet Dr. Amasawa. Behind him parked outside is a shiny new people carrier. Seiji bows to him, we see him introduce Luisa, Anna-Marie and lastly, Shizuku. Dr. Amasawa bows to the two ladies but his greeting to Shizuku is minimal.

Dr. A: "We should go direct to the hospital. Mrs. Baroni, are you able to travel there now? Yes. That's good. Miss Tsukishima I will take you home."  
Shizuku: "Please, no. I would like to come. I'll phone my parents from there."

Cut to:

Hospital exterior view. A 1950s concrete slab, faceless, tasteless. Without the windows it could be the tomb of a giant.

Cut to:

A hospital corridor. Shizuku pushing Luisa. Dr. Amasawa leads the group, Anna-Marie beside him in hushed conversation. Seiji brings up the rear looking unhappy. They go into a lift.

Cut to:

The lift doors open. Beyond them, in the corridor, is a doctor.

Cut to:

A side view of the doctor waiting outside the lift. Dr. Amasawa comes out, the others behind him.

Doctor (sober tones): "Mr. Amasawa? I am very sorry. It is bad news. Your father in law died an hour ago, your wife is with him now, do please go straight in."

He walks down the corridor a few yards and indicates a doorway with his arm. Seiji's father goes with him. The two men go in.

Cut to:

A waiting area outside the ward. A few chairs, some low tables, a water cooler, piles of magazines. Anna-Marie, Luisa, Shizuku and Seiji remain there. No-one sits, no one talks. Anna-Marie takes Luisa's hand.

Cut to:

A close up of the old lady's face, although she has been through so much in her long life it seems she can no longer cry and her eyes are dry and bright.

Cut to:

Shizuku. She turns to comfort Seiji but he turns away from her and looks out of a window.

Cut to:

A view through the window. Traffic passes on the street several floors below. The cars have their headlights on in the gloom of the storm. The city lights are blurred and mingled by the rainwater. The rain flows down the window.

Cut to:

Seiji standing and looking drained. Shizuku stands behind him, helpless. She wants to comfort him but is confused by his rejection. She holds her hands in front of herself wringing them.

Cut to:

A view of Seiji's back. His shoulders begin shaking as he cries silently. Shizuku reaches out a hand to touch him but then stops and lets it fall.

Cut to:

A view facing the ward doors. They open. They all turn to see who it is. Mrs. Amasawa comes out. Seiji turns, his face very red, she hugs her son. Then she looks at Shizuku and beckons her to her with an out-held arm. Shizuku moves forward and Mrs. Amasawa hugs her too. Shizuku puts one arm round the woman and one round Seiji. They hold onto each other for a while. Mrs. Amasawa then pulls away. She takes one hand of Shizuku's and one of Seiji's and puts them together. It's a simple gesture of the mother to the son accepting the girlfriend as her daughter. She nods silently and smiles. Shizuku looks uncertainly at Seiji, his face is still downcast. Mrs. Amasawa turns to Luisa and Anna-Marie, she bows to them. She kneels in front of the wheelchair.

Mrs A: "I am Yumiko Amasawa, Seiji's mother. You must be Luisa, I have heard so much about you from Shizuku, she has written to me. And of course my father would talk of you sometimes. I am so very sorry, this is such a difficult time. But you are very welcome to stay with us for as long as you wish."

Luisa reaches out and takes her hands. After a moment Mrs. Amasawa rises and faces Anna-Marie who introduces herself. The women talk in muted tones which we cannot overhear.

Cut to:

The ward doors again. Dr. Amasawa comes out and stands to one side a little way down the corridor. He is even now in a time of family grief a cold and distant person. His wife goes to him and they talk. She comes back.

Mrs. Amasawa: "You may go in."

Cut to:

A hospital bedroom. It is gloomy, only a side light above the bed is on. The blinds are drawn to shut out the dismal evening. Mr. Nishi lies on his back, his arms folded on his chest, one hand cupping the other. He looks at peace, as though sleeping. Luisa lets out a little cry and touches his face.

Luisa: "Oh, Shirou, you are as handsome now as the day you left on the train. But why are you always leaving me?"

Seiji places a hand on her shoulder. Shizuku goes to the other side of the bed and kneels on the floor. She takes one of grandpa's hands in hers, presses her face to it and breaks down into uncontrollable sobbing.

Cut to:

An outside view of the hospital in the rain. We still faintly hear Shizuku sobbing.


	23. Chapter Twenty Two: The Earth Shop

**Chapter Twenty Two – The Earth Shop**

A view of the Earth Shop exterior in the rain, its growing dark now. There are no lights on.

Cut to:

(Music: The 'Earth Shop' harpsichord music theme from _Whisper_).

A view of the shop interior. It is dark and quiet except for some clocks ticking. We see several views. The cold fireplace. The golden pig on wheels. The rocking horses. The galleon on its table. The camera pans to the top of the stairs and tracks down them.

Cut to:

The workshop. We see several views. The large workbench. An armchair is stripped down on it, the cover and stuffing removed, the wooden frame with some new pale timbers spliced in stands waiting the next stage of restoration. We see close ups of some tools neatly stored on a wall rack; a plane, a hammer, a spokeshave, leatherworking awls, a hand drill. We cut to a view of a broom leaning up in the corner, a small pile of sawdust brushed neatly up against the wall beside it.

New scene:

A few days later. The sky is overcast. The camera pans down from the grey clouds to a graveside view. A funeral at a city centre cemetery. Trees are in the background but tall buildings are not far away and the drone of the city disturbs the quiet. Among the crowd we can see Dr. and Mrs. Amasawa, Mr. Nishi's two musician friends, Luisa, Anna-Marie, Seiji, Shizuku, plus others we do not know, many of them elderly. Everyone is wearing black. A monk is speaking. He wears long white robes with a black surplice. We can hear his voice faintly but not the words. It is breezy and coats and hats are pulled by the wind, encouraging people to move away quickly at the end of the service.

Cut to:

A more distant view looking down from longer grasses on higher ground. Our point of view descends slowly to ground level and in the foreground we see the back of Moon sitting watching the funeral. In the distance the service ends and people walk slowly away back to their cars in small groups, in ones and twos. Moon is just a cat. He doesn't understand the passing of time but he does know that what he wants at this moment is to just sit here and be in this place.

Cut to:

A car driving along. Seiji looks out the window at the cloudy sky scudding across the city. His eyes are vacant.

Cut to:

The car pulls up outside the Earth Shop.

Seiji (faintly): "No, we're fine. Just want to be alone here a while. We'll come over to the house later, OK?"

He and Shizuku get out. The car drives slowly off. Seiji is wearing a black suit, if this whole scene were not so sad he'd look handsome in it, smart. Shizuku has on a long black dress and a black overcoat. She is wearing her old straw boater hat but has replaced the ribbon with a long black one whch hangs down at the back. As with Seiji, if the outfit and the face were not so sombre she would be very attractive. Both of them look quite grown up dressed like this.

Cut to:

The side gate of the shop. Seiji unlocks the gate and steps through. Shizuku follows. At the top of the steps she stops and looks at the view. The clouds are breaking a little and the sky is lighter. Shizuku descends to the wooden balcony.

Cut to:

The balcony, looking along to the workshop door. Seiji unlocks the door with his key. Shizuku stops at the balustrade and looks at the view again.

Shizuku: "I love this view."  
Seiji: "Me too. Pity we'll not see it much longer, I expect the shop will be sold."

Shizuku stays a moment longer, just looking. Not wanting to stop looking.

Seiji: "I need to collect some things."

He goes inside.

Cut to:

From inside the workshop looking out the open doorway to the balcony. Shizuku stands in the doorway, she looks in, apprehensively.

Cut to:

A view of the workshop interior. On the right is grandpa Nishi's workbench, the stripped down armchair on it. Shizuku looks left. Seiji's workbench is swept bare, everything put carefully away. Shizuku steps in quietly. As she goes across the room to the stairs she sees on the left the upright piano and Mr. Nishi's cello. We hear faintly the violin accompaniment to _Country Road_. We see the scene from last year, Shizuku singing, Mr. Nishi and his friends playing, the jolly refrain by the tall thin man on recorder.

Cut to:

A close up of Shizuku's face. It is discoloured from so much crying, her eyes are inflamed. Tears are welling up yet again. She shakes her head to drive away the memory. The song fades away. Shizuku runs past the instruments and up the stairs. She can't bear to be down here.

Cut to:

A view of the top of the stairs. Shizuku comes up. At the top she stops and looks around. On the table is a large box, on top of it a card. She walks over and picks up the card. She's almost too distraught to really care much, she's moving automatically.

Cut to:

A close up of the card:

TO SHIZUKU, MY LITTLE RAINDROP. YOUR HEART SHOULD NOT WHISPER, BUT LET IT SHOUT. THESE ARE FOR YOU. FROM YOUR FRIEND, GRANDPA.

Shizuku lays the card on the table and opens the box, she folds back layers of tissue paper. She lifts out the Baron. She holds him up and looks carefully at him.

Shizuku: "Hey there. Still not going to talk to me, eh?"

She stands the Baron on the table and looks inside the box again. She folds another piece of tissue aside. She pulls out the Luisa doll and holds her up. She is beautiful. In the two weeks since Shizuku sent the doll to Japan, Mr. Nishi has restored her to perfection. The ears, the whiskers and fur are like new, the eyes shine, but most amazing of all she is dressed in the most beautiful white brides dress, with a little jaunty white cap and a gossamer veil. Shizuku lifts the veil. She is overawed and once again the tears begin to flow. She picks up the Baron, smart and dapper in his tail coat and top hat. She hugs both dolls.


	24. Chapter Twenty Three: The End of Summer

**Chapter Twenty Three – The End of Summer**

Shizuku's face in close up, her left profile. Very slowly the camera pulls out and we see she is sitting at her desk in her bedroom. On the desk to her right the Baron and Luisa dolls stand in the corner. Shizuku looks out her window at a damp day, a grey sky. She is thinking and we hear her thoughts aloud. During this train of thought the scene changes and we get images of her memories, of the things she is describing.

(Music: the main theme, melancholy violins. As the monologue starts the theme is sad, a theme that makes you long for better days, happier days. But as the story she tells continues the theme picks up tempo, a piano joins and then a flute. By the end of the monologue the tune is upbeat, happy and bursting with new hope).

Shizuku: "School started. September came and went, the leaves began to fall early. We had such rain. Luisa and Anna-Marie stayed with Seiji's parents. It was funny, Luisa insisted they pay Dr. Amasawa while they were there. Of course Seiji's father was quite put out by this but Luisa got her way. There is amazing strength in the old lady, I don't know where it comes from. With school keeping us busy things almost became normal again. The pain became easier to bear for me but Seiji never did get over the death of his grandpa, something in him changed for good. A light went out. Of course grandpa was such a huge part of his life, the violin making and an escape from the hell of his fathers presence. All that was now lost and Seiji struggles to deal with that. I missed the old man's company, I missed going to his shop at weekends and cooking meals for him. But most of all I missed just sitting by his fire and listening to him talk. He could talk for hours, long into the night of anything and everything. Except for the afternoon of the funeral I never went to Seiji's house – he would meet me in town or he'd come to our apartment. At weekends I would meet Anna-Marie and Luisa at the station. Anna would go shopping and I would show Luisa the town I know, not the shops but the hilly streets up toward the library, the school, the playing fields. I'd push that wheelchair for hours and we'd sit and just look at the view, not talking much. Seiji told me he had a long talk with his father. He never goes into details about such things but I think his father is now making plans to appoint a director of the electronics company. Does Seiji still hate him? He won't talk about it. Luisa did say something strange to me before she left. She mentioned something about Seiji's father in such an odd way, as if she herself had talked with him about Seiji. But what does she know of the situation? Only what we talked about at her brothers house. I don't know what she could have said that might have affected his dad's decision."

(Music: tempo and mood begin to pick up)

"Luisa and Anna-Marie returned to Cremona, we're going to visit them next summer. Something wonderful happened with the Earth Shop though. As his last surviving child the shop became Mrs. Amasawa's property. The antiques were sold off and the place cleared out. But she decided not to sell it. It was cleaned and decorated and now she is renting it out. Seiji told me that she has promised it to him, when he's older, she will transfer it to his name. But will he be here? Will either of us be here?"

(Music: the piano joins)

"Then in October the letter arrived. Seiji cycled round at once and showed it to me. Signore Guarnieri had written. He told him that of all the students on the summer course, Seiji was by far the most outstanding. The signore would accept him as his full time pupil, an apprenticeship that would last ten years. He understood that Seiji needed to complete his high school education, and that he might want to attend university, but when he was ready, the apprenticeship post would be waiting. After the ten years if all goes well, Seiji would be entitled to establish his own workshop in the city and officially state that he is a maker of violins in the most renowned musical city in the world. At the end of the letter there was something odd, the signore mentioned that he had not seen hands working like Seiji's did for many years, not since he had sat as a boy and watched his own father make violins. He said in that last week, the week after we'd been to the _Museo di Musica_ recital, the work Seiji had produced had been outstanding, work of a truely inspired quality. And that settled it, Seiji told his father that once he had finished high school he would emigrate to Italy."

(Music: the flute joins, it becomes a tune to lift up your heart)

"A year ago Seiji asked me to marry him. It was a silly childish thing, and I gave a silly childish answer. Yesterday however he asked me again. This time he wasn't being silly. And when I answered him, neither was I. The Baron and Luisa stand on my desk and even though the love between grandpa and his sweetheart is ended I sometimes sit in my room, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I can feel their love pouring out of those dolls and washing over me. Sometimes its so strong I can't breathe. I've decided that I can never bear being parted from the one I love. I will never leave Seiji, no journey halfway round the world is going to separate us. I've told mom and dad that I'm going to marry him and emigrate with him. And I will take the Baron and Luisa with me. I'm going to go to Germany and find the place they were born. Then the circle will be complete."

The camera pulls out more and we see Seiji standing behind her. He places his hands on her shoulders. He tilts his head forward and places his lips on the top of her head, kissing her hair.

Closing title sequence:

(Music: main theme but now bursting with joy and love). Credits roll. A sequence of still scenes:

It is much later, three years later. The two are adults now. They say goodbye to the four parents at an airport. The four adults stand close together, signifying friendship.

A plane taking off.

The plane getting smaller in the night sky.

A train pulls into a station. We see a sign ARLBERG. And some railway signs in German.

Shizuku and Seiji getting off the train. Shizuku has a box with her. Seiji carries a violin case.

The train departing.

They stand looking at the departing train, they are holding hands.

They walk down the platform as the sun is rising.

_The End._

_MS-C 4th – 25th October 2006._


	25. The Story Behind the Story: End Notes

**The End of Summer: The story behind the story **

What follows are some notes I originally wrote to aid myself in story planning, but as a couple of people asked about some background I tidied the notes up and added some points I made in some web forum posts.

The idea of writing the fanfic came to me after I'd fallen completely in love with _Whisper of the Heart_. I was so captivated by the story that I wanted to know more about Seiji's and Shizuku's relationship. What I particularly wanted was for them to stay together as they grew up and to marry. Usually child love fades away and couples break apart, as happened to me when I was thirteen. The magic of the movie was such that I yearned for a break up like that _not _to happen. This was also an opportunity for me to lay to rest some old demons and move on.

So I thought about continuing the story myself and writing an ending that made it pretty certain that the teenagers would stay together and eventually marry.

The first germ of an idea came to me when I thought: "wouldn't it be nice if the Luisa cat doll could be reunited with the Baron doll?" That was the catalyst. The Luisa doll is in Germany somewhere, so I had to get my characters to Europe. Of course Seiji has already been to Italy and what better way to get Shizuku there than to have Seiji attend a summer violin making school and Shizuku goes with him. The reuniting of the dolls would be a symbol for Seiji and Shizuku that love can span decades and not fade, a lesson they would take with them into marriage. I found I could tidy up the details by having Luisa's family flee Germany during the war and go to Italy, the doll going with her.

All well and good so far.

Then other stuff began to happen that I had not expected. First the real live Luisa character came into the story and the prospect of her meeting Mr. Nishi after a gap of 55 years appealed to me as another plot device to present the enduring quality of true love. As the story developed the circumstances of the meeting between Shirou and Luisa changed but it remained an important signpost for the two teenagers.

It also became apparent that I needed Seiji's character to be developed. For Shizuku to see something deeper and worthwhile in him she had to discover something about him that would make her want to spend her life with him. In the _Whisper_ anime Seiji is a pretty unknown quantity and I realised I could take what little we do know about him and make him more interesting and quite a complex person. His relationship with his father is revealed as is a backstory revolving around his close relationship with his grandpa and violin making. At the end of the story Seiji experiences a traumatic moment of self discovery, Shizuku is instrumental in helping him through this and their bond becomes unbreakable at that point.

As I was researching the story I looked up Japan Airlines flights to Italy. JAL flies into Milan several times a week. Their flight JL417 departs Tokyo Narita airport at 13:00 and arrives at Milan Malpensa at 18:35. I messed with these facts a little, making the arrival at the smaller nearby Milan Linate airport and about an hour later. I found that Linate's runway can accept 747s but its passenger handling facilities would be more primitive than the bigger airport. I found that during the mid to late-1990s Malpensa airport was undergoing major rebuilding work with a second terminal being constructed, so I used this real event to assume that some flights were diverted to Linate airport which is closer to the city centre. I found there was a 20:15 train leaving Milan Central Station for Venice which goes via Cremona and I even found out the train number and locomotive type. For atmospheric reasons I wanted an evening arrival in Milan and a night journey across the city and by train to Cremona. The stresses and strains of long haul flight and an onward transfer late into the night cause some problems for Seiji and Shizuku and I was able to strengthen their relationship by this means.

The _Whisper _anime has a tightly plotted calendar and timeline; with help from the manga it's possible to identify the exact starting and end dates and the dates of most significant days along the way. There is also consistent weather and time of day throughout and this combined with lovely lighting effects and sky colours convinced me that my story should try and follow this example. My story therefore also needed a correct calendar and accurate settings, times of day, weather and so on. My mind was often on the lighting in the scenes and the sky colours.

The Milan arrival also gave me the opportunity to reveal a special, even mystical quality in Shizuku's character. This ability aids her, in a future life the story doesn't cover, in becoming a successful author. The scenes in Milan and Venice point toward this and the discovery of the seaplane model in Cremona indicate to us that it is she who writes the story that becomes the film _Porco Rosso_.

Like many stories there is some autobiography present in _The End of Summer_. The scene in which her father tries to get close to Shizuku the day she leaves for Italy is really a scene depicting me trying to talk to my own daughter. My daughter is twelve and in a few years she and I will face the issues Shizuku and her father face. The scene is partly preparation for that trauma.

I have experienced death close up in recent years: my father passed away some years ago, then a close friend of my own age dropped dead one day of a heart attack. In mid-2006 another close friend died after a long battle against breast cancer. In 2004 my mother passed away in hospital after a long illness. I was the only person with her at her bedside when she died, and there can be few events in life that can move a person so much. The end of the film involving death is my attempt to deal with this and to find new beginnings in younger lives (as I see in my own daughter each day). Writing these passages was very difficult but I was able to end on a positive note.

Well there it is. I hope you get something out of this story, and I thank you for reading it.

**The follow are three posts from web forums that I wrote in response to reader comments. Number One.**

This is just a good old fashioned love story. There are fantasy bits but the strange events in Milan and Venice are a sub plot relating to Shizuku's future story writing, and a plot device to draw Seiji closer to her by way of his concern for her. I hope _The End of Summer _reinforces the message at the end of the original film. My craving at the end of _Whisper_ was for the two kids to stay together (I have strong personal reasons for this, you've probably picked up on that elsewhere). I structured an ending (which is really just Shizuku's Chapter 23 monologue plus a series of stills as the final credits come up) that made it clear that the next step for them is marriage and emigration to Europe.

Another thing I wanted to do was really flesh out the Seiji character. Seiji is a very interesting person in the anime but a little thin, if you like, not a completely believable person. For me he's just a bit too nice, too perfect, too much the gentleman. I wanted to introduce some vulnerability, some flaws. I could feel that behind his violin making motivation there were some interesting driving forces at work so I fleshed his character out with a pretty severe period of self doubt and revelation. It's this revelation, and Shizuku's key role in helping him in this struggle, that ensures a strong bond between them that is enough to keep them together through high school until they marry. Seiji in the story is focussed almost exclusively on this issue. Since this issue isn't resolved until the final few chapters I held the Seiji character at a distance through 2/3rds of the story in order to make the revelation at the end more dramatic. The stuff Shizuku gets up to in Cremona involving cats, antique shops and elderly ladies is for him completely incidental.

Apart from the climactic discussion on the plane on the way back (Chapter 20), which for me is _the_ key scene of the story, Shizuku's focus is all on her finding the doll, and meeting Anna-Marie and Luisa. At the end her character gains solace from the symbol of the two dolls being apart for so long and reunited. She also infers a warning from Louise and Mr Nishi being apart for so long and _not_ being reunited. With Seiji preparing to emigrate to Italy she sees her future as possibly a duplicate of Mr Nishi's life: noble but tragic. These experiences of the pain of lost love and separation makes her realise that she must follow Seiji to Cremona and live with him.

It was these sorts of forces working to keep the two young people together after the credits roll on _Whisper_ that was my main aim in writing the story. I wanted compelling forces like these when I started writing and I'm pleased with the way the story grew of its own accord as I went along. It's no work of art but it has achieved what I set out to do and I think it does it tolerably well.

I thought it was interesting that the anime gives us the concept of Mr. Nishi knowing Luisa before the war in his student days and leaving her which is so closely mirrored by Seiji knowing Shizuku in his student days and potentially leaving her. Nishi left Europe and went to Japan, Seiji is travelling the opposite way. I can't think this is co-incidence, I'm certain that Miyazaki/Kondo were giving us this deliberately.

**Number Two.**

By all means if you see something that's wrong / annoying / could be better let me know, "polishing" will go on for a while. I've already fixed quite a few things since the story was posted on the forums, for example Luisa's 65 year old younger brother isn't Italian, he's German! Doh! How did I let that happen? So my reference to him being Italian has gone out of the version of the story on my PC.

I wasn't too worried about using the Kouji character the way I did: at least I maintained his interest in photography. The manga was pretty well hacked about by Ghibli to convert it to the anime so I feel it's OK for me to make some changes. All reference to the Kouji character could be deleted and it wouldn't make one bit of difference to the story. We know from the anime that Seiji is a younger brother (there's a clear mention of it, I'm sure you know which scene I'm referring to) so putting Kouji in helped flesh out Seiji's backstory a little. I made sure the important parts of Seiji's backstory do not contradict the anime in any way.

As to property sizes I don't say how big the Amasawa house is. All we know is Shizuku thinks it's huge but then again living where she does she probably thinks the Harada house is huge. You could get 2 or 3 cars on Yuko's driveway, no problem. As the Tsukishima's don't own a car, even seeing two on a driveway might have prompted Shizuku to say what she did. I envisage the Amasawa house being one of the bigger properties of the nice sort up on the hills in the Earth Shop neighbourhood. It's certainly no mansion and because Seiji cycles between his home and the Earth Shop on a regular basis it can't be too far away.

I wasn't thinking of Fio's monologue when I did the ending, although of course it's very similar. I just kind of discovered that I'd reached the end of the story and rather embarrassingly found I still had a lot of unused material that was valid. Doh! The story had to end there for closure purposes. With all that information to impart, a monologue seemed the best way. I think the images from Shizuku's thoughts could be stills here at the end.

Yes, I'm a fan of _Porco Rosso_, but it's not in my top three Ghiblis. The whole Milan canal / seaplane model thing came along well after the story had started and it was a bit spooky the way it all fitted together; elements from _Porco, Whisper_ and real life all conspired so that it fitted the situation perfectly. I wanted something special in Shizuku's character that would empower her to write well, and as this is a romantic fantasy story I needed something that was suitably fantasy-based, not mundane. So I gave her this vision ability. I chose to make her the writer of the original _Porco Rosso_ book that would be made into an anime - this device allows the reader to identify with the _Porco_ related incidents because its another Ghibli anime and they'll pick up on the links. Had I used another famous story and made her the author of that then, well, it just wouldn't have had anything like the same impact. So it had to be a Ghibli movie and as (an amazing co-incidence which I milked for all it was worth) Japan Airlines fly into Milan and as the _Porco_ movie has a long important Milan scene the link just came about that way. Also, when Shizuku saw the restored clock in Whisper the maker was _Porco Rosso_, a little Ghibli joke that I turned around. In my universe Shizuku stored this name away in her memory and when it comes time for her to write the seaplane book some years later she recalls this name because it's Italian and because it evokes a happy memory for her and she names her hero after it. As the name is Crimson Pig that sets her off thinking about why he is a pig, and it all fits in quite nicely.

**Number Three.**

Shizuku's waking scene in Chapter 12 was a real swine to write. Loads of delete-and-rewrite went on here before I was happy with it. The hem of the pyjama jacket comes to just below her bottom, shorter than a short skirt but enough to cover the important bits. Something this short is for wearing only in bed, never in the street! What I'm trying to slip in here is a hint that Shizuku is growing up. She no longer wears kids pyjamas as we see in Whisper but has matured into night-wear that is more adult. She's making choices now about what she wears, even in the bedroom, rather than her parents deciding she'll wear kiddy pyjamas and her just choosing the colour. A sexy item of clothing like a short night-dress would have gone over a certain decency line I wasn't going to cross and given the scene entirely the wrong flavour so I went with a man's pyjama top. I once had a girlfriend who slept dressed like this and so that memory came back and I used it. I wanted to leave out all hints of sexyness and played that aspect of the scene right down. In an anime I see this scene as really quite cute, something as innocent as Satsuki getting in the bath with her dad or Kiki getting dressed/undressed. Only of course as this is a fifteen year old an anime can't show anything (I'm just not into nudity scenes as in Elfen Lied at all, they do nothing for me if they are not relevant to the plot. They're just cheap. We see lots of nudity in Evangelion but that works since it's hardly gratuitous and it does have a relevant bearing on the plot).

I was quite worried by any scene involving Shizuku and a cat. I tried to show typical scenes of Italian city cats as there are lots of half-wild cats in these places that keep the rats down. The first couple of cat encounters are deliberate red herrings, false trails because I know that fans will see Shizuku meeting a cat and think something important is going to happen. So I messed about a bit there ;) However when the crunch scene comes at the café and Shizuku goes to Anna-Marie's shop I think the hints I'm dropping about that _particular _cat are so obvious I don't think there is a stronger way to write it without it becoming unsubtle. I agree however that there is ambiguity in the cat character (if you can call Tikka a character) but that ambiguity is there deliberately, to make the reader wonder who or what she is. Is she just a cat? Or is she made into a semi-fantasy character as the younger Shizuku did with Moon/Muta? Is Tikka a living embodiment of the cat doll? Who knows, you decide.

The story somehow broke itself into two quite distinct parts, the watershed is Shizuku finding the cat doll. Before that point there is a lot of ordinary stuff going on, lots of atmospherics and lots of scene setting. After that scene there is much more 'quick' storytelling and more meaty dialogue. The second part of the story is really a sequence of really, really important conversations held together with linking action. A lot of character development is inferred by conversations.

There is also something going on with Seiji. It's quite subtle and you may not have spotted it yet. But during his quiet moments there is something going on inside him, he's not a happy person. I make several references to it. All is revealed in the closing chapters.

The story was difficult to write because I felt I had a duty to reflect the innocence of the film and yet I had to skate carefully around the physical side of a relationship between two fifteen year olds that has been going on now for eight months. What sort of physical relationship would two fifteen year olds have if they were so far away from their parents…? Hmmm… you tell me. Writing a story that is really a romantic adventure while trying to avoid it becoming slushy or rude was quite hard and lots of writing went in the bin during this.

**Final End Note, 28th November 2006 **

Since finishing this story I decided to write about a very important event that takes place at the start of Chapter 18. While I was writing this story I knew this event occurred. My heart considered the possibilities for a long time and it decided eventually that the logical thing would be _The Attic Room_, so I wrote about it. Although I knew this event occurred, I kept it out of the main story because it is not relevant and it would have ruined the main point of _The End of Summer_. _The End of Summer_ is a love story and another rites of passage story, mostly for Seiji even though he is very much a secondary character to Shizuku's lead. There are five words that open Chapter 18: _Nearly two weeks go by. _The main event that happens during those two weeks is told in my story _The Attic Room. _I won't go into details here but if you read _The Attic Room_ you should understand clearly why that event is kept separate from this story. At least I sincerely hope you do.

I have recently thought further into the future of the lives of these two people and may well write more about them, bringing their story up to contemporary times (2006 to 2010). In my future thinking the couple return to Cremona in 1996 to visit Anna-Marie and Luisa. At the end of high school, aged eighteen (1998) they will marry and then emigrate. They will visit the Arlberg region of the Bavarian Alps as we see in the 'closing credits' of _The End of Summer_. I have some thoughts on how that trip goes but nothing down on paper yet. Something sad will happen in summer 1998 and in that year Seiji takes up his apprenticeship with Signore Guarnieri which will last ten years. Shizuku will initially do various jobs in Cremona, probably based around her interest in the language – working at the tourist office perhaps or a translator at local government level. She may even work in languages at diplomatic or national government level in Milan, Venice or Rome. My later short _The Click of Her Key_ is a small window onto this part of their lives. Seiji will end his apprenticeship in 2008 or 2009. Before then Shizuku will have found a publisher and her writing career will have begun to flourish. After that, well... who knows? Does Seiji stay in Cremona to make violins or does he return to Japan? Or travel elsewhere? Maybe there's more to tell, I'll just have to see if that funny writing urge comes over me again and takes me off in unknown directions.


End file.
